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By W. MAX Ri:iD 

TKe MoKa-wK "Valley 

{Its Legends and its History.) 

Large Octavo, with 70 Illustrations from 
Photographs by J. Arthur Maney. Net, 
$2.50. 

The Story of Old Fort 
JoKnson 

{A Companion Book to "The Mobawk 
Valley.") 

Large Octavo, with 40 illustrations from 
Photographs by J. Arthur Maney. Net, 
$3-00. 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

Afetv York — London 



The Story of 

Old Fort Johnson 



/ By 

.J- 



W: Max^Reid 

Author of "The Mohawk Valley." 
Illustrated by 

J.ohn Arthur Maney 







G. p. Putnam's Sons 

New York and London 

^be "Rnlckcrbochec iptcss 

1906 










COPYRfGHT, 1906 
BY 

W. MAX REID 



To 

MY RESPECTED FRIEND 

Major-general JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

THROUGH WHOSE GENEROSITY 

Old Fort Johnson became the property of the Montgomery CotTNTY 
HisT0RiCi»L Society 

THIS BOOK IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED 



PREFACE 

THE acquisition of the old baronial mansion of 
Sir William Johnson through the success- 
ful efforts of a few members of the Montgomery 
County Historical Society and the generosity of Maj.- 
Gen. J. Watts de Peyster, to whom this volume is 
dedicated, suggested the idea of a short account or 
history of Old Fort Johnson, as this stone building 
on the Mohawk has been named. It has been called 
by various names: Castle Johnson, Mount Johnson, 
and, lastly, Fort Johnson, each one, in a way, a 
misnomer. 

The few pages of statistics that I had in mind has 
unaccountably grown to a generous-sized volume, 
with numerous illustrations by my dear friend and 
companion in many a delightful outing on stream 
and plain and in the forest, John Arthtir Maney. 

The title. The Story of Old Fort Johnson, indicates 
the character and purpose of this work. It is not 
intended as a history of the life of Sir William 
Johnson, the grand old man of frontier literary fame, 
but as I reread the manuscript which is before me, 
I find that his name dominates nearly every page. 

It seems strange that a valley that was and is the 
highway to the great west, the Gate to India, has 
not had more attention from historians and writers 
of fiction, until this, the twentieth century. 



vi Preface 

It is true that W. L. Stone, Sr., and Col. W. L. 
Stone, Jr., have given us an authentic history of 
the valley in The Life of Joseph Brant and of 
Sir William Johnson (from both of which books 
I have quoted freely), but until the advent of Harold 
Frederic and Robert Chambers, novelists, and of 
Augustus C. Buell, historian, the valley seems to have 
been neglected. Augustus C. Buell is dead, but I 
desire at this time to express my appreciation for 
many kind words and great assistance from the 
author of Sir William Johnson, Paul Jones, William 
Pcnn, and other successful books. He died while 
his last book, William Penn was in the hands of 
the publisher. 

It would be a considerable task to enumerate all 
of the early writers to whom I am indebted for 
valuable information in regard to the dates and 
material used in this volume. It is sufficient to say 
that every man, be he novelist or historian, who 
writes a book must take advantage of the researches 
of others, if he is to give to his readers trustworthy 
information; and I may close this preface with the 
remark that a history would be of very little value 
if all of its pages were evolved from the mind of one 
individual. 

W. M. R. 

Amsterdam, N. Y., July, 1906. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter I i 

Sir William and his Irish sweetheart — His leave-taking — Arrival in 
the New World — An account of his boyhood days — Resume of 
his life from 1738 to 1774. 

Chapter II 19 

The domestic affairs at Fort Johnson — Catherine Weisenburg — 
Caroline Hendrick — Molly Brant — Personality of Sir Wm, 
Johnson — Fort Johnson fortified — Order of defence. 

Chapter III 27 

Sir William Johnson at the battle of Lake George. 

Chapter IV 39 

Pontiac — Devil's Hole — Ambuscade at Bushy Run — Johnson's life 

threatened — Anger of Mohawks. 

Chapter V 54 

Vagaries of men's minds — Sir John Johnson. 

Chapter VI 69 

Mohawks at Oghwaga and Oriskany — Molly Brant driven from 
Indian castle by the Oneidas — Interview between General 
Herkimer and Joseph Brant. 

Chapter VII 01 

Old documents found in Glen-Sanders house — Resume of history of 
war in the valley of the Mohawk — Diary of Wm, Colbraith 
at Fort Schuyler — The first raising of the Stars and Stripes 
over an American Fort. 

Chapter VIII 100 

Capture of Walter N. Butler — Han Yost Schuyler and others — 
Escape of Butler. 

vii 



viii Contents 

rAGB 

Chapter IX iir 

Sir John Johnson's second raid 1780 — Battle of Stone Arabia — 
Battle of Klock's field — British account of the raids of Captain 
Joseph Brant (Thayendanaga). 

Chapter X 123 

Colonel Marinus Willett — Battle of Dorlach (Sharon Springs). 

Chapter XI 134 

Lady Johnson — Her captivity and escape — Sir John's first raid in 
1 7S0 — Recovery of the silver plate and its subsequent destruction 

— Wounding of Major Stephen Watts, 

Chapter XII 149 

Will of Sir William Johnson. 

Chapter XIII 161 

Genealogy of the Johnson family. 

Chapter XIV 165 

Major-General J. Watts de Peyster, Donor, Philanthropist — De 
Peyster family — Richmond collection — Hon. Stephen Sanford. 

Chapter XV 174 

Land grants : Royal, Kingsborough, Sacandaga. 

Chapter XVI 182 

Summer r&mbles — Schoharie Creek from source to overflow — 
Skeletons of aborigines — Photographs of forest and lake — A 
boulder that walked away — Historic characters of Tribes Hill — 

The historic copper kettle. 

Chapter XVII 189 

The early Mohawk Indians' idea of the Creation. 

Chapter XVIII 198 

Episode at the siege of Fort Schuyler — The murder of the maidens. 

CH.A.PTER XIX 225 

A visit to Dadanascara, the summer home of Alfred de Graff — 
Charming views and historic scenes thereabout — Ancient Indian 
camp on the Vrooman farm re\-isited. 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Old Fort Johnson and the Kayaderosseros Creek 

Frontis^ce 

The Valley of the Mohawk from Highlands at 

Hoffman, N. Y. ...... 2 

The Great Falls of the Mohawk. Cohoes, N. Y. . 6 

The Bluff below the Falls, Cohoes, X. Y. . . 8 

Old Fort Johnson IN 1753 ..... 12 

Dravm by Col. Guy Johnson. 

Ghost Room and a Ghostly Vision, Old Fort 

Johnson ....... 16 

Sir William Johnson. Bart. ..... 22 

From an old print. 

Fort Johnson. — The Grove of Locusts . . 26 

Foot Hills of the Adirondacks. Near the Sac- 

ANDAGA ........ 30 

Upper Falls of Adriutha ..... 36 

The Mohawk at Schenectady . . . . ^S 

The Islands of the Mohawk. A Vista from 

"The Antlers" ...... 46 

A Corner in a Cellar under Old Fort Johnson . 50 

Sir John Johnson, Bart. ..... 56 



X Illustrations 

Midwinter ix tes Mohawk Valley . . . 5S 

Deep-Case viHNTED Window :n the Lady Johnson 

Room ....... 6c 

Fireplace and Oven. Gut Park. . . . . 6r 

Captain Joseph Brant -- 

Skull and Thigh-bones and Broken Pottery Fount) 
IN Mound Grave at Fort Huxter. X. Y. Also 
Copper Beads and Shell Ornamsnt Found :n 
Indian Grave near Coxsackie. X. Y. . 74 

Junction of the Mohawk and Schoharie Rivers, 

with Erie Canal Aqueduct . 76 

A Corner of Old St. George s Churchyard, Sche- 
nectady. X. Y. . . . . Sc 

Glen-Sanders House. Scotia. X. Y.. 1713 . . S4 

Col. Barry St. Leger ...... SS 

From an old print, 

Uppsr Onega Creek . , . gr 

Old Mile-S<?uare Road, Onega Creek . . , oS 

The Old Klock House. St. John-stille. X. Y. — 1750 . no 

Ornamented Wixdow, Church at Stone Ar.^pt.^ 114 

Lady Johnson. "Lovely Polly Watts, " ». .. - . / Sir 

John Johnson, Bart. . . . . -15- 

The East Room. Old Fort ToHKSoK . 150 

The Doorway, Old Fort Johnson .... 150 



Illustrations 



s 



A Door at Old Fort Johxsox 
The Hall, Old Fort Johxsox 

Old F:ks place. Guy Pars. 
West Room. Old Fort Johxsox 
A CoRXER OP Guy Pars 



Statue of Sir William Johxsox. Bart., Johxstown, 
X. Y 



J, Watts de Peystzr 



fte^. engraving. 



Memorial Taslzt ^-ilzctzd :x Hoxor of Major- 
Gexeral Johx Watts db Petster 

Part of Richmoxd Collectiox op Aborigixal Ax- 
tiquities ....... 

Hox. Stephex Saxford ...... 

Ax Attic Wixdow, Old Fort Johxsox 

Johxsox Hall. Johxstowx. X. Y. . 

Cayadutta Creek. Ruxxixg through the Battle- 
field of Johxstowx ..... 

The Mohawk ix the Chilly Grasp op Wixter 

MouxD AT Fort Hux-ter where a Xumber of Ixdlix 
Skeleton's were Uxcovered .... 



?AGB 

154 
156 
15S 
160 

162 
166 

16S 
170 

174 

176 

178 
180 

1S2 



Great Turtle Pox*d. Fort Hunter. X. Y. 



1S6 



Xli 



Illustrations 



The Jelles Foxda Copper Kettle. A Revolution- 
ary Relic ...... 

The Author Restoring the Great Mohawk Jar 

A Colonial Doorway, Guy Park 

V.'iNE Vault Cellar. Old Fort Johnson 

Club House of '"The Antlers." 

Abandoned Highway to Albany, Leading to Da- 
danascar-^ Ford ...... 

d.\d.^nascara gorge ...... 



190 
196 

2C2 
224 

22S 

230 



The 
Story of Old Fort Johnson 



The 
Story of Old Fort Johnson 



CHAPTER I 

THE EARLY LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON — HIS 

IRISH SWEETHEART — RESUME OF HIS LIFE 

FROM 1738 TO 1744 

WE call the valley in which we live the Beautiful 
Mohawk and glory in the varied scenes of 
beauty that meet our eyes at each successive change 
of season. When the Ice King has bound river 
and rivulet in his chilly grasp and the deep azure 
of running streams has given place to his mantle 
of white, when the bordering hills, clad no longer 
in verdure bright, but dotted here and there with 
patches of sombre green, and whose slopes reflect 
back to the eye all of the rays of the spectrum com- 
bined like a huge cloak of ermine, we marvel at its 
beauty and are proud of its grandeur. 

In the spring, with its budding freshness, and in 
summer, with its maturity of verdure, we find delight 
in sunshine and in storm ; but autumn, which brings 
with it thoughts of the dying year, changes the valley 
into a veritable garden of beauty — not with the sear 



2 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

and yellow leaf of Old England, but with the myriads 
of shades of green and brown and crimson, and all 
the innumerable tints of gray and olive. 

Rocks, rills, and ravines, hills, valleys, and fiat 
land, vistas of higher groimds, and misty outlines of 
distant mountains add color and majesty to the 
distant landscape. 

Did you ever pay an extended visit to the level 
lands of Ohio or the rolling plains of the prairie 
lands of the far western States ? 

And when, on your return, you struck the narrows 
of the Mohawk Valley at Little Falls and at the 
Nose, did not your heart swell with pride as you 
quoted in a whisper — for you dare not trust your 
voice — 

Breathes there the man with soul so dead 
Who never to himself hath said, 
" This is my own, my native land " ? 

Into this valley in all its pristine loveliness came 
William Johnson, in the leafy month of June, 1 738. 

In the county of Meath, Ireland, and on the upper 
waters of the river Boyne, whose outlet forms the 
Bay of Drogheda and whose shores in the eighth 
century gave foothold to the Scandinavian pirates, 
is the smaU village of Smithtown, the birthplace of 
Sir William Johnson. Not many miles away, but 
across the border of the adjoining county of Down, 
lies the estate of the family of Sir Peter Warren and 
called Warrentown, the home of the mother of Sir 
William. 

At the dawn of a beautiful day in the autumn of 
1737, a young man, whose every motion gave evi- 




o 









> 



Sir William Johnson 3 

dence of vigorous manhood, with grace of movement 
and strength of limb, was striding along a coimtry 
highway leading to the port town of Drogheda. 

The gray of dawn barely disclosed the flitting 
forms of trees whose bare trunks rose in small 
clusters from the bogs on each side of the road. The 
young man walked with long, swinging strides, 
switching his high top-boots with a riding whip at 
every step. As the gray of the horizon gave way to 
the crimson and gold of the perfect morning, it dis- 
closed the bright colors of the garments of the trav- 
eller. His straight and vigorous limbs were seen to 
be encased in buff knickerbockers and high top- 
boots, while his broad shoulders and well-turned 
arms were clothed in the green coat and long buff 
waistcoat frequently worn by the Irish gentlemen 
of the eighteenth century. 

The hat that adorned his head was of conical shape, 
with broad band ornamented with a polished silver 
buckle of large size in front, and on the lapel of his 
coat was a bow of orange ribbon. 

The sun rising above the bleak moor disclosed 
the handsome features of a young man of twenty- 
three, whose dark gray eyes and full crimson lips 
broke into a happy smile as he espied the drooping 
form of a comely girl leaning on a stile constructed 
in a break in the hawthorn hedge which formed a 
border to the road he was travelling. 

Pale and trembling, and with eyes disclosing the 
agony of grief and a long night's vigil, the young 
maiden swiftly approached the young man, and 
with the abandon of perfect love flung herself into his 



4 The Ston- of Old Fort Johnson 

outstretched amis, exclainiing: "0 Will, my dar- 
ling. I cannot, cannot let you go; take me. oh, take 
me w'ith vou! do not leave me to die. as I surely will 
if I am left alone w*ith my grief." Pressing her ^'ield- 
ing form close to his breast, and arresting her frantic 
words with a long, clinging kiss, he replied, with in- 
tense fer\'or in his voice: "Ah. mavoumeen. do not 
grieve so, do not look upon this as a final parting. 
It is true that America is a long way from dear old 
Ireland, and the wilderness will be drear\- without 
yoiu" dear presence, but if there is a way of reaching 
its distant sliores there is also a way of returning. 
Cheer up, my darling: through the kindness of dear 
old Uncle Peter I am to be placed in a way to make 
mv f ortime and a home for us two in this grand New 
World, to wliich so many are hastening. 

"Think of the happiness to come, when I am rich 
enough to build a home and then return for you, my 
love. ^Miat x^ill the terrors of the forest lands 
amoimt to. when, with a home for you and me, we vnll 
be safe and happy from the stem edicts of parental 
authority? Kiss me, my love, and give me God-speed 
and a cheerful good-bye." 

Stifling her tears she noised her eyes to his. and 
w4th one hand on his breast, clasped closely in his 
own, and with the other pointing to the golden disk 
of the Sim whose roimded edge was illuming the 
dreary moorland, she said: 

"^MU. as surely as that s\m will rise and at t::e 
close of day sink from sight in the west, so surely are 
you going out of my life in your vo}-age to the west- 
em world — but not out of mv heart, love, not out of 



Sir William Johnson 5 

my brealdng: heart. Kiss me, deai-, I hope that yotir 
dreams will prove tiiie." 

He clasped her in his aims again, protesting that 
he would prove ti*ue to his Irish lass and that he 
would build a home for her in the forest lands of the 
beautiful ^lohawk. Gently disengaging hei^self from 
his strong anus, ^nth a smile on her lips more ex- 
pressive of grief than her tear-laden eyes, she leaned 
against the stile as she watched his form disappear 
in the distance. Then, with arms outstretched toward 
the sea, she exclaimed in an agonizing whisper, 
"Oh, nw sweetheai't, ni}* darling, will never come 
back to me; never come back!" and sank imcon- 
scious on the dew-laden turf at her feet. 

We know not the name of this maiden; we know 
not the reason wh}' Sir Peter WaiTen offered the 
superintendence of his lands on the ^lohawk River 
to his nephew, William Johnson. All that we are 
told is that, on accomit of an mifortunate love 
affair, he was induced by his uncle to emigi'ate to 
America. 

Ver}' little has been -^Titten of the boyhood of 
William Johnson, but the late Augustus C. Buel, a 
descendant of Sir William bv one of the daughters 
of Caroline, his first Indian wife, has given us some 
facts not hitherto printed. 

It is said that he was the son of Christopher 
Johnson and Anna Warren, a sister of Admiral 
Wan-en. Christopher Johnson may have been a 
school teacher in his younger days, but from 1692 
to 1 708 he was an officer in a cavalry regiment then 
known as Cadogan's Horse. 



6 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

At the time his son William was bom (17 15), he 
was a local magistrate for Carlingfordo It is said that 
he was a "cripple," as the result of a wound from 
a French bullet received at Oudenarde. 

In May, 1726, Admiral Peter Warren wrote in his 
diary: "Visiting me Mistress Nancy (Anna) John- 
son with her Yoting Son, William, aged eleven. 
William is a Spritely Boy, well grown, of good parts, 
Keen Wit but most Onruly and Streperous. I see 
in him the Makings of a Strong Man. Shall keep my 
Wether Eye on this lad." 

From the little that we can learn of his school days 
it would seem as though the opinion of his Uncle 
Peter, that he was most unruly and "Streperous," 
was correct. His family wished to make a soldier 
of him, but he declared against this scheme and 
announced that he wished to become a barrister. 
He grew rapidly, but the development of his body 
seems to have outrun that of his mind, and his school 
days at the Academy ended suddenly in expulsion. 
It seems that an attempt on the part of the modera- 
tor to chastise young William resulted in failtire 
on the part of the instructor, and the haling of the 
lad before a magistrate on a charge of assault and 
battery, who was fined seven guineas and "put on 
the limits" for twenty-one days, followed by a 
flagellation from his crippled father upon his return 
home. 

For the next three or four years he studied law 
with a barrister named Byrne and w^as listed for 
examination in the spring of 1737, but a month or 
two before the assizes met he received an offer from 




The Great Falls of the Mohawk, Cohoes, N. Y. 



Sir William Johnson 7 

his uncle Peter to go to America and take charge 
of a large tract of land, consisting of 14,000 acres 
situated in the Mohawk Valley and now known as 
the town of Florida, N. Y. 

Late in the summer of 1737 he sailed for America, 
arriving in New York in December. The young man 
spent the winter in New York as guest of his aunt, 
Sir Peter Warren's wife. 

Lady Warren was a daughter of Stephen De 
Lancey, one of the richest merchants in New York, 
whose family held leadership in the most refined and 
aristocratic society of the provincial metropolis. It 
was in this social environment William passed the 
winter, and it is said that "he bore himself with tact, 
dignity, and grace worthy of wider experience and 
maturer years"; during which period he met many 
influential men and women whose interest and 
influence were vastly useful to him in later years. 

Although young Johnson was not knighted until 
about eighteen years later, in order to save confusion 
I will in future pages speak of him as Sir William, 
a title by which he is so well known in history. 

We have seen that Sir William came in contact 
with men of influence in the affairs of the colony, 
particularly the De Lanceys. Hon. James De Lancey, 
a brother of Lady Warren, was commander-in-chief 
of the province of New York, and Lieut. -Gover- 
nor in 1754, '55, '57, and became a firm friend of 
Sir William. 

Although his school days ended somewhat dis- 
astrously, the months he spent in the law office of 
barrister Byrne prepared him for the various duties 



8 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

he was called upon to perform as land agent for 
various persons on both sides of the Atlantic; and 
although, perhaps, the diction of his letters to the 
Lords of the Board of Trade does not compare very 
favorably with those of Secretary John Pownell and 
others, his letters were models of good reasoning 
and rare judgment, and his suggestions in regard 
to the conduct of his affairs as Indian Commissioner 
received the utmost consideration of that august 
body and were generally adopted. 

In most of the stories of the life of Sir William 
Johnson the early years of his sojourn in the valley 
are disposed of in a very few words, and even then 
the writers show a lamentable ignorance of the 
geography of the valley. 

Some content themselves by stating that he built 
a trader's store west of Schenectady, and others 
locate his headquarters near Fort Hunter. W. L. 
Stone's statement would naturally convey that 
impression. 

The facts are that the location selected by Sir 
William for his storehouse and dwelling was about 
half a mile east of the Mohawk River bridge at 
Amsterdam, on the south side, his nearest neighbors 
at that time being Alexander and Hamilton Phillips 
about two miles farther east, and Philip Groat on the 
opposite or north side of the river at Adriutha or 
Cranesville. In time other buildings were erected^ 
until the place was dignified with the name of 
"Johnson's Settlement." It was so called during 
the Revolution and as late as 1795. Somewhat later, 
or after the construction of the Erie CanaL a Roman 




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5 

a 



Sir William Johnson 9 

Catholic chapel was erected there or in that vicinity, 
which was the beginning of the immense parish 
of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church of Amster- 
dam, N. Y. 

Here Sir William lived for five years, when he 
moved into the large stone house at Akin which 
he called Mount Johnson until 1755, when the place 
was surrounded by a palisade and renamed Fort 
Johnson. 

While living on the south side Johnson diligently 
worked to improve and develop the large estate of 
his uncle Sir Peter Warren, who desired to keep its 
14,000 acres intact by renting sections of the lands 
to tenants on long leases. Sir William, however, early 
found that such a scheme was impracticable, and 
with the consent of his uncle soon sold a large portion 
of it in farms of 150 to 300 acres. 

(W. L. Stone quotes a letter from Sir Peter to Sir 
William in which is this sentence, "My love to 
Mick." He says: "This name occurs twice, but I 
do not know who Mick is." It was probably Michael 
Byrne, who somewhat later was closely connected 
with Johnson, and whose son married one of Sir 
William Johnson's daughters by his Indian wife 
Caroline.) 

It is said that the rude storehouse and dwelling 
were completed in 1738, and a housekeeper secured 
of Lewis Phillips in the person of a young Dutch 
girl whose services the said Phillips had secured by 
paying fifteen pounds due the captain of the ship 
that brought her across the Atlantic, as passage 
money. At the suggestion of Phillips, Sir William 



lo The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

paid his friend the fifteen pounds and took the girl. 
This girl, whose name was Catherine Weisenburg, 
afterward became the mother of his son John and his 
two daughters Anna and Mary, and at some subse- 
quent period, the exact date of which is not known, 
was married to William Johnson by the Rev. James 
Barclay, missionary of Queen Anne's Chapel at 
Fort Hunter. 

Very soon after Sir William had erected his 
buildings at "Johnson's Settlement" he purchased 
land on the north side of the Mohawk River on both 
sides of the Kayaderoseros or Old Fort Creek, for 
the purpose of erecting a grist-mill. In 1742 the mill 
was erected, and also the substantial stone building 
now known as Fort Johnson. 

The thought has often come to me, for whom 
did he build this stone structure? Was it for his 
servant Catherine, or was it to be a home for his 
sweetheart in old Ireland ? 

Suffice it to say that Mount Johnson, as it was 
then called, was constructed in a style that in those 
days may well have been termed magnificent, and 
even to this day bears the impress of the brand of an 
experienced architect. Here his daughters Anna 
and Mary were bom and here his first wife, Catherine, 
died. His son, known after Sir William's death as 
Sir John Johnson, was bom at the "Johnson Settle- 
ment," on the south side. 

It was while living in this grim, gray stone mansion 
that nearly all of the notable events of this notable 
man's strenuous life transpired. 

It was here that his two daughters received their 



Sir William Johnson ii 

educational instruction from governesses, and were 
married. Here also he installed King Hendrick's 
niece Caroline as companion, by whom he had 
three children, two daughters who married white 
men, and one son, the half-breed Teg-che-un-to or 
William of Canajoharie, mentioned in Sir William's 
will. It was in this building in 1752 that Caroline 
died and was succeeded by Molly Brant, the majority 
of whose children were bom here. 

In 1746 Johnson was made Indian Commissioner, 
having by kindness and tact obtained almost com- 
plete control of the warlike Iroquois. One of the 
historians of the valley says : 

The distinguishing feature of Sir William Johnson's char- 
acter was strict integrity. In this is to be found the great 
secret of his marvellous ascendency over the Indians. Cajoled 
and cheated by the English traders and land agents for a 
long series of years, the Amerind had learned to regard the 
name of Englishman as a synonym of fraud and deceit. 
From the time, however, of the Baronet's settlement 
in the valley of the Mohawk until his decease, they had 
ever found him true to his word and conscientious in his 
dealings. 

Another trait of Sir WilHam's character — and which added 
not a little to his influence over the Indians — was his power 
of adaptation. This he possessed in a remarkable degree. 
He was at ease whether entertaining in his baronial mansion 
on the Mohawk the polished scion of nobility, or the rude 
savage ; whether mingling in the salons of wealth and fashion, 
or seated on the earthy floor of a bark wigwam. The same 
facility of action was shown in all his varied relations, A 
trader in peltry, he was upright and affable; a counsellor, 
he was sagacious and prudent; a major-general, courageous 
but cautious; superintendent of Indian affairs, wise and 
discerning; a baronet of the realm, courtly in his hospi- 



12 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

talities ; a large landed proprietor with a numerous tenantry, 
kind and just. 

Somewhat later, through the jealousy of Gov- 
ernor Shirley, he was constrained, in order to sustain 
his dignity and honor, to resign his office of Indian 
Commissioner, but the Iroquois were so aroused 
and so vociferous in their demand for his reinstate- 
ment that he was reappointed with almost imlimited 
powers. 

The old stone house during the French and 
Indian war was the scene of great activity. This 
was the headquarters of the militia of the valley, 
over which Sir William was commandant, and 
which in May, 1756, he led to German Flats to check 
the advance of the French, who were said to be 
marching down the valley. It proved to be a false 
alarm. In June, an Indian runner brought news 
that a large force of French and Indians was organ- 
izing on the Canadian border for a raid through the 
valley. One section of this body of troops was di- 
rected to kill or capture Sir William and to destroy 
Fort Johnson and all property in its vicinity. It was 
during this period of unrest that the old building 
was fortified by a palisade and the name changed 
from Mount Johnson to Fort Johnson. 

Notwithstanding the jealousy and enmity of 
Governor Shirley, Captain General of the provinces 
of New York and New England, he appointed Sir 
William Johnson Major General and commandant 
of four thousand troops raised in the above pro- 
vinces for the purpose of capturing Crown Point, a 
French fortress on Lake Champlain. 



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Sir William Johnson 13 

The story of the battle of Lake George, as it is 
called, has been so often told that I will not attempt 
to describe it at this time, although it seems to me 
as though the denizens of the Mohawk Valley deserve 
more than a passing credit for that victory. In the 
first place Major General Johnson, the commandant, 
was a resident of this section of the valley. In June, 
1755, more than eleven hundred Indians were in 
camp on the flats in front of old Fort Johnson, not 
three miles west of the city of Amsterdam. Of this 
number three hundred were warriors equipped for 
war; the balance consisted of women and children, 
gathered here to subsist on the bounty of Sir Wil- 
liam while their warlike sons and husbands fol- 
lowed their friend to victory. 

It must, indeed, have been a picturesque sight. 
Imagine a motley array of Indian families around 
hundreds of camp-fires extending along the fiats east 
and west for a mile or more; women cooking their 
food while the kids foraged far and near; painted 
warriors lounging on the ground in graceful atti- 
tudes ; sachems and chiefs thronging the halls of the 
building in consultation with Sir William, whose 
word was law unto them; the octogenraian King 
Hendrick, his large form grown stout and unwieldy, 
striding majestically to and fro, his ample blanket 
covering his gorgeous attire, his broad, heavy face 
seamed by age and further disfigured by broad bands 
of black and vermilion. 

On June 27, 1755, Sir William wrote to Governor 
DeLancey: 

I am working with the sachems and leading men from 



14 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

morning until night. The fatigue I have undergone has 
been too much for me. It still continues and I am scarcely- 
able to support it. I am distressed where to get victuals 
for such numbers; they have destroyed every green thing 
upon my estate and destroyed all my meadows. But I must 
humor them at this critical juncture. 

In 1760-61 the last French war, as it is called, 
ceased. At this period of comparative peace Sir 
William Johnson, having secured entire control of 
the Kingsboro Patent of twenty-six thousand acres 
in the vicinity of the present town of Johnstown, 
turned his attention to the improvement of that 
estate, it having become more valuable and impor- 
tant than his smaller estate at Fort Johnson. Here 
he built a commodious mansion and gave it the name 
of Johnson Hall. This was completed in 1763 and 
Sir William moved into it in the early spring, leav- 
ing Fort Johnson and the lands adjoining in posses- 
sion of John Johnson, his eldest son, who continued 
to occupy it until the death of his father, July 11, 
1774. 

Except the trouble arising out of the Pontiac war, 
which was practically crushed in 1763 although 
Pontiac did not smoke the calumet of peace with Sir 
William until July 23, 1766, the Baronet's life was 
comparatively free from the hardships and turmoils 
which marked the two decades of his residence on 
the Mohawk River. In fact, treaties then made with 
all the Indian tribes practically ended his direct 
personal attention to Indian affairs, and he only 
retained under his personal supervision the faithful 
Mohawks, Oneidas, Oghwagas, and Tuscaroras, his 
three deputy superintendents, George Crogan, Daniel 



Sir William Johnson 15 

Claus, and Guy Johnson, relieving him of the care of 
the "far Indians." 

At Johnson Hall, Johnstown, Sir William died, as 
he lived — in harness — after a long speech to about 
six hundred Indians, mostly Iroquois, who had 
assembled at Johnson Hall to invoke his influence to 
prevent the invasion of the Indian country on the 
Ohio, known as Dunmore's war. 

He was at this time much weakened by a chronic 
disease, and the excessive mental effort and exposure 
to an extremely hot sun brought on prostration, 
which culminated in cerebral apoplexy, from which 
he died in about two hours. Sir John Johnson was 
at his home. Fort Johnson, when his father was 
prostrated, — ^ten miles from Johnson Hall. 

Young William Johnson — the half-breed son (Teg- 
che-un-to) — mounting a blooded horse from Sir 
William's racing stable, reached Sir John with the 
news at five oclock in the afternoon, although the 
horse he rode was ruined. Sir John instantly mounted 
his own best steeple-chaser and covered nine miles 
of the distance in thirty minutes; but the horse fell 
dead within a mile of Johnson Hall, and Sir John 
borrowed a horse from a farmer and soon arrived at 
his father's bedside. But his father was uncon- 
scious and in a few minutes ceased to live. 

Of Sir John's life at Fort Johnson we know but 
little. It is said that he was just twenty-one years 
old when Sir William moved to Johnson Hall and 
left him in charge of the Fort. In early life he 
wooed, won, but did not wed a very pretty girl of 
good family, named Miss Clara Putnam, by whom 



1 6 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

he had a son and a daughter. Miss Putnam was 
keeping house for him at the old Fort Johnson 
mansion when, on June 29, 1773, he married Miss 
Mary Watts of New York city, a woman noted for 
her great beauty and accomplishments, but before 
Sir John returned from New York he caused Miss 
Putnam and her children to be sent across the river 
into the town of Florida. Late in life he gave her 
money, and a house and lot in Schenectady, where 
she died about the year 1840. 

The first tenant of Fort Johnson, after Sir John 
fled to Canada and Lady Johnson was held as hostage 
at Albany was Albert Vedder, the founder of the 
city of Amsterdam, 1779. In 1800 the property be- 
longed to Jacob C. and John C. Cuyler. The suc- 
cessive purchasers were as follows : 

Jeremiah Schmder, February 22, 181 7; 

John J. Van Schaick, January 8, 1820; 

George Maxwell, December 14, 1824; 

George Smith, January 26, 1826. 
George Smith died intestate and the property was 
divided into nine parcels and all sold between 1836 
and 1844. 

Fort Johnson mansion and lands adjoining were 
purchased by Dr. Oliver Davidson who afterward 
sold the same premises to Almarin Young, from 
whom they were purchased by Ethan Akin. While 
living at Fort Johnson, Dr. Davidson's daughter 
wrote the well-known poem entitled "The Sale of 
Old Bachelors." 

It would indeed be strange if tradition did not point 
to a tragedy connected with this old building. In 



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Ghost Room and a Ghostly Vision, Old Fort Johnson. 



Sir William Johnson 17 

the early part of the nineteenth century a country 
store stood where Mr. Shepard's residence stands, on 
the comer east of the creek. Tradition says that one 
night a drunken fellow whose name was Joe Burke 
entered the store and got into a fight with the store- 
keeper, punishing him severely, and then fled pursued, 
by the angry merchant with a gun. The merchant 
followed him into Fort Johnson and saw him pass up 
the stairs toward the attic. Just as Burke reached 
the attic stairs his pursuer fired and killed him, his 
blood spattering the stair-casing. Subsequently the 
body was removed to the cellar, placed in a cask of 
whiskey in one of the wine vaults constructed in the 
foundations of the large chimneys, until the ice broke 
up in the spring, when it was rolled to the river and 
sent floating on its way to the sea. The matter was 
hushed up, and is only known now by tradition. 

Of course there is a ghost room, but the ghost seems 
to have been a very mild character. 

In preparing this chapter, it has been my desire to 
make plain to you the very prominent part that Fort 
Johnson played in the early history of the valley and 
to establish the claim made that this grim, gray 
stone mansion is entitled to the designation of the 
first baronial mansion in New York State. 

After the battle of Lake George Sir William was 
notified (November 11, 1755) that King George II. 
had conferred upon him the dignity of baronet of the 
realm of Great Britain and also a gift of $20,000 as a 
reward. 

Thus you see that Sir William was not only created 
a baronet before he had secured the Kingsboro grant 



1 8 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

of 26,000 acres and while Johnstown was yet a wilder- 
ness, but for eight years after he was knighted and 
entitled to the title of Sir William he resided at Fort 
Johnson. 

In studying the life of Sir William Johnson in 
the light of the twentieth century, my mind fre- 
quently reverts to the heart-broken Irish lass, lying 
on the dew-laden turf, in the dawn of the summer 
morning so long ago. How true was her prophecy — 
her lover never came back. 



CHAPTER II 

THE DOMESTIC AFFAIRS OF SIR WILLIAM AT 
FORT JOHNSON 

THE domestic affairs of Sir William Johnson have 
received a great deal of criticism from the his- 
torians of the valley, and the intemperate zeal of some 
of them in putting in type racy bits of gossip of doubt- 
ful authenticity, that floated around the valley a 
half -century after his death, would have made them 
in this century good yellow journalists. 

These stories have marred the character of an oth- 
erwise great man. His first wife, Catherine Weisen- 
burg, seems to have been a handsome, companionable 
girl, with whom he was unavoidably brought into 
close relation through the exigencies of a forest life, at a 
time when the custom of bundling was not considered 
a heinous crime by the old Dutch families who were 
his neighbors. (See Professor Pearson's Schenectady 
Patent, p. 366.) 

The poor girl, far from home and relatives, practi- 
cally a slave for a term of years, perhaps did not until 
after years consider her relations with Sir William as 
unlawful or sinful, and should not be mercilessly con- 
demned when the situation is thoroughly understood. 
That Sir William married her soon after the birth of 

19 



20 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

his children indicates a desire to atone as far as was 
in his power for the social sin they had committed. 

Soon after her death, and at a time when his influ- 
ence over the Iroquois was being made manifest, he 
took to his home the daughter of Chief Abraham, who 
was also a niece of King Hendrick, the most powerful 
chief of the tribe of Mohawks. She became his Indian 
wife by the laws and usages of the Indians, and I have 
always thought that the selection was made as a mat- 
ter of policy, in order to please the Mohawks, who had 
nominally made him a chief. Caroline was her Eng- 
lish name. 

This occurred in 1 747. By Sir William she had two 
daughters and a son : the daughters were named Char- 
lotte and Caroline, and the son was called William, 
for his father. He was the first bom and is the " Wil- 
liam Johnson alias Teg-che-un-to ' ' who is mentioned 
in his will as William of Canajoharie. In 1753 Caro- 
line died in childbirth at the birth of her second 
daughter, who was also named Caroline. 

This gives us approximately the date of the instal- 
lation of Molly Brant as Sir William's second Indian 
wife, or housekeeper, as she has been variously called, 
which was subsequent to that date and probably soon 
after the death of Caroline Hendrick, as she is some- 
times called. 

As Molly Brant was her niece it would seem as 
though she must have been a frequent visitor to her 
aunt and well known to Sir William, as the daughters 
were adopted by her as her own, and lived with her at 
Fort Johnson, while William, the half-breed boy, was 
brought up by his grandfather Abraham or his uncle 



Domestic Affairs 21 

" Little Abe, " at Canajoharie Castle at Danube, New 
York. 

William Johnson (Teg-che-un-to) the half-breed was 
educated by Sir William at Dr. Wheelock's school at 
Lebanon, Conn., and was killed by the Oneida half- 
breed Thomas Spencer at the battle of Oriskany. 

Molly Brant, who was a sister of Thayendanega 
(Joseph Brant), was about sixteen years old when her 
aunt Caroline died, in 1 753, and lived at Fort Johnson 
and Johnson Hall until Sir William's death in 1774, 
a period of about twenty years, during which time 
she had eight children. 

There is nothing that is recorded about this pictur- 
esque character who came into Sir William's life 
accidentally, we might say, to lead us to suppose that 
the unique union of this strong, forceful man with the 
handsome and intelligent though unlettered maiden 
of the forest was not in every way a union of affection 
and fidelity, unto death. 

During the Revolutionary period and subsequent 
to that time she and her half-breeds, with the excep- 
tion, probably, of Peter, her eldest-bom, seem to have 
reverted to savage impulses, tempered somewhat by 
the civilizing education of twenty years' life in a fam- 
ily who associated with the foremost people in the 
colonies. 

What seems very strange is the fact that she does 
not appear to have taken an exalted station in the 
new settlements of the Caniengas or Mohawks on 
the shores of Grand River and at Deseronto in 
Canada. The fact is that with the exception of the 
date of her death (1805) she appears to have dropped 



2 2 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

out of the pages of history entirely after her flight to 
Niagara in 1779. 

Reverting to the daughters Charlotte and Caroline : 
Charlotte, the eldest, married a young British officer 
shortly before the Revolution, but who afterward 
joined the Continental army and fell at Monmouth 
Court-House. His name was Henry Randall. They 
had two children, one named Charlotte Randall, who 
married George King. George and Charlotte King 
had a daughter Charlotte, who was the grandmother 
of my informant. 

The other daughter of Molly Brant's predecessor 
(Caroline), whose name was also Caroline, married a 
man named Michael Byrne, a clerk in Sir William's 
office of Indian affairs. Byrne was killed at Oriskany 
in Butler's Rangers. His young widow, Caroline 
Johnson, went with the Brants to Canada and after- 
ward married an Indian agent named MacKim, whose 
descendants are still living in Canada. 

A description of Sir William is given by Mrs. Julia 
Grant, an artist who painted his portrait in 1751 : 

A little scant of six feet — five feet eleven and one-half 
inches — neck massive, shoulders broad, chest deep and full, 
limbs large and showing every sign of great physical strength. 
Head large and finely shaped. Countenance open, frank 
and always beaming with good nature and humor — a real 
Irishman as he is for Irish wit. Eyes large, a sort of black- 
gray, or grayish black. Hair with a tinge of auburn in 
certain lights. In conversation he is a most delightful 
person. 

His mode of Hving is that of an English gentleman at his 
country seat, and I was astonished to find on this remote 
frontier, almost in the shade of primeval forests, a table 




Sir William Johnson, Bart. 
From an old print. 



Domestic Affairs 23 

loaded with delicacies and Madeiras, ports and Burgundies 
of the rarest vintage. His table is seldom without guests, 
and his hospitality is a bjrword the region round. 

During my stay he had Indian chiefs to dine with him 
several times. Their attire was the same as white people's and 
for the most part they conversed in English. This disap- 
pointed me, because I wished to sit at table with genuine 
Indians in blankets and leggings and talking nothing but 
gibberish through an interpreter. Among those I met at 
Colonel Johnson's table were the venerable and noble-looking 
old chief Hendrick, now over seventy years of age; his 
brother Abraham, about sixty years of age, chief of a Mohawk 
clan and father of Caroline the beautiful young Indian woman 
who was mistress of the household; also Nicklaus Brant, 
chief of the Upper Castle of the Mohawks, a man of most 
prodigious silence and the most grave and solemn courtesy. 

Colonel Johnson is the soul of method. He must have 
fifty or sixty people in his employ besides the negroes, and he 
oversees everything they do. Marvellous! And then he 
attends to a mass of complicated public business besides! 

The different names that have been applied to the 
baronial mansion of the Mohawk are somewhat con- 
fusing and somewhat misleading. We hear it called 
Mount Johnson, Castle Johnson, and Fort Johnson. 

When it was erected (in 1742) Sir William named it 
Mount Johnson, which was a misnomer, as it was built 
on a fiat, and the hills in its vicinity could not by any 
stretch of imagination be called mountains. At the 
time of its construction, or soon after, the mansion 
as it now stands, and which has been described else- 
where, was flanked to the east and to the west by two 
low stone buildings used respectively for kitchen 
and servants' quarters. A little to the south and in 
front of the servants' quarters was a structure of 



24 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

stone, two stories high, used as a store. Until 1755 
this collection of bmldings was called Mount Johnson. 

At the date named a feeling of unrest and insecurity 
led Sir William to fortify his home by erecting a stock- 
ade around it, said stockade being made of palisades 
sharpened at one end and set firmly in the ground 
closely together and reinforced by long timbers spiked 
horizontally to the palisades, binding the whole firmly 
together. Each of the four comers was fortified by 
a bastion. In the curtain on the south side was a gate 
heavily ironed. Judging from the distance given 
from the river bank to the south curtain, the stockade 
was not more than sixty feet from the stone mansion 
which it protected. No trace of this wooden fortifica- 
tion is visible at the present time. A picture made by 
Guy Johnson previous to 1755 shows a small guard- 
house situated on the slope of a hill about one third 
of the distance from the top. This hill is on the east 
or left bank of the Old Fort Creek, one hundred and 
fifty paces from the stone building. 

The following order, copied by a Colonel T. Bailey 
Meyers from the original, will give an idea of the care 
taken by Sir William for the protection of his home 
during that period of the French war embraced be- 
tween 1755 and 1 761. The order is addressed to 
Lieutenant Alexander Tiimbull, Aug. 9, 1756. 

Fort Johnson. 

ist. You will keep your Party sober and in good order and 
prevent their having any unnecessary Intercourse with the 
Indians lest any difiference might arise between them from 
too much familiarity. 

2d. If any difference should arise between them, if the 



Domestic Affairs 25 

Indians use any of your party ill, I am to be immediately 
acquainted with it. 

3d. The Sergeant to take care that the Men's Quarters be 
kept very Clean and that they wash well and freshen their 
Salt Provisions, the neglect of which makes them subject to 
many Disorders. 

4th. You will in the daytime keep one Sentry on the 
Eminence to the Northward of the House, who upon seeing 
the enemy advance is to fire his piece and retreat to the fort. 
Another Sentry to be posted at the Gate of the Fort on the 
outside, who is also to enter the Fort on the advanced Sentry 
alarming him. 

5th. When there are no Indians here the Gates to be 
locked at 8 o'clock in ye evening and opened at six in the 
morning, first looking around about to see that all is safe and 
clear, the advanced Sentry then to be posted every Day. 

6th. Whenever an alarm is given by the advanced Sentry, 
you will order three Patteroes [or Peaeroes, a very small 
kind of cannon] immediately to be fired, that being the signal 
I have given to the Mohawks, and on their approach near the 
Fort, when challenged, they are to answer "George" as 
distinct as they can, then to be admitted if practicable. 

7th. In case of any attack the 2 Bastions to be properly 
manned and the 2 curtains also, there mixing some of my 
People with yours. The remainder of my People to man the 
Dwelling House and fight from thence, making use of the 
Four Wall Pieces and Musquetoons and of the windows 
fitted for them. 

The men's arms and ammunition to be kept in Good Order. 

I am Sir 

Yrs., 

Wm. Johnson. 

There is another account, by a traveller who is said 
to have visited Fort Johnson in 1757, which differs 
somewhat from the foregoing description and which 
I am now satisfied is incorrect. He says that the 



26 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

building had port-holes and a parapet. For parapet 
we should read stockade. Port-holes in the building 
there were none. 

In Sir William's order to Lieutenant TumbuU he 
says: "The remainder of my People to man the 
Dwelling House and fight from thence, making use of 
the Four Wall Pieces [a small cannon] and Musque- 
toons and of the windows prepared for them.'" The 
house is two stories high, with a large attic in which 
are four dormer windows with sash opening outward. 
In the heavy sill of each of these windows is a round 
hole a little to the left of the centre. These holes are 
about one and a half inches in diameter and were un- 
doubtedly used for the pivot of the small cannon 
spoken of, and were probably taken for port-holes by 
the traveller. The walls are intact and show no evi- 
dence of any holes having been made in them for the 
purpose of firing either guns or cannon. 




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CHAPTER III 

SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON AT THE "BATTLE OF 
LAKE GEORGE" 

T AKE George, nestling among the foot-hills of the 
■■— ' Adirondacks, may well be called historic water, 
as around its shores have surged warriors, savage and 
civilized, in conflict, perhaps for ages. The Mahicans, 
the Adirondacks, Montagnies, and other Algonquin 
tribes of Canada, the Hurons, and the Mohawks and 
other Iroquois tribes fought each other along its 
shores and on its waters for centuries before the ad- 
vent of the white man upon the continent. Cham- 
plain knew of its existence in 1609, when he, together 
with the Hurons, met and defeated the Mohawks on 
the shores of the lake that bears his name. It is said 
that Champlain visited its shores in 16 13, being the 
first white man who gazed upon its waters. 

Its Indian name was Andiatarocte, but it was 
known to the French of Canada, in connection with 
its larger sister (Lake Champlain), as Lake Iroquois. 
Cooper calls it Lake Horicon, a corruption of the word 
Iroquois. In 1645 Father Isaac Jogues paddled its 
length in a canoe with his Huron giiides, on the eve 
of Corpus Chris ti, or the "feast of God," and in honor 
of that feast named it Lac St. Sacrement. This name 
it retained until 1755, when it was changed to Lake 

27 



28 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

George by General William Johnson, in honor of King 
George the Second. 

Being separated from the Hudson River by the 
Luzerne Mountain, the Indian trail from Canada to 
the Mohawk Valley passed over the level plain to 
the Great Carrying Place on the Hudson River, and 
thence down that river, or overland to the early Mo- 
hawk castles above Hoffman's Ferry. This plain is 
also historic gi'ound. Across its surface the Agniers 
(Mohawks) passed to seek a new home in the valley 
of the Mohawk, when driven from the St. Lawrence by 
their savage kindred. Here they fought their neigh- 
bors the Mahicans, and after gaining strength re- 
crossed this plain, and in 1609 unexpectedly met 
defeat at the hands of Champlain on the shores of 
Lake Iroquois, and on account of that defeat became 
the deadly enemies of the French colonists. Repeat- 
edly they paddled across these waters carrying death 
and destruction to the Hurons, whom they utterly 
destroyed on the shores of Lake Huron in 1649. 
Across this beautiful lake passed Father Isaac Jogues 
and Rene Goupil as prisoners in 1642, and again in 
1646 Jogues and Lalande, as missionaries, to meet 
a shameful death on the shore of the Mohawk. In 
February, 1666, De Courcelles and Tracy with 600 
men, and again in October of the same year with 1200 
French and Indians, and two pieces of artillery, in a 
flotilla of bateaux sailed its waters. In 1667 it was 
the route of Fathers Perrion and Bruyas as mission- 
aries to the Mohawks' coimtry, and on Sept. 8, 1755, 
it witnessed the conflict known in history as the battle 
of Lake George, between the English and colonists, 



Battle of Lake George 29 

under General Wm. Johnson, General Lyman, and 
others, and the French forces under Baron Dieskau. 

Francis Parkman has told the story of this battle 
in his usual interesting way, and I have taken the 
liberty of giving a condensed account of his narrative : 

The "last French war" was at its height, and to 
defeat a contemplated raid on Albany, by the way of 
Lake Champlain and Lake George, an expedition was 
organized whose object was the capture of Crown 
Point, at the upper end of Lake Champlain proper, 
then in possession of the French. Levies were 
made on the Eastern States, and Connecticut had 
voted 1200 men. New Hampshire 500, Rhode Island 
400, while New York promised 800, and William 
Johnson had gathered 11 00 Indians, men, women, 
and children, at his own house, known as Fort John- 
son, on the Mohawk River. 

This army of raw recruits gathered at Albany pre- 
paratory to proceeding to Crown Point by the way of 
Hudson River to the Great Carrying Place, as it was 
called, at Fort Edward. The American army num- 
bered about 3000, and the French army, under 
Baron Dieskau, had reached Crown Point with 3500 
regulars, Canadians, and Indians, mostly of the 
Caughnawaga tribe, from the banks of the St. 
Lawrence. 

The Caughnawagas were composed of converts to 
the Roman Catholic religion from the Iroquois and 
other Indians, who, thrcugh the influence of the Jesuit 
priests, had migrated to Canada and formed a settle- 
ment on the St. Lawrence River at Lachine Rapids, 
which was called St. Francois Xavier du Sault, or St. 



30 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

Francis Xavier "at the rapids." This name was 
afterward changed to Caughnawaga, which means 
in the Iroquois tongue "at the rapids. " 

Among the followers of General Johnson were four 
hundred Iroquois, mostly Mohawks, under King 
Hendrick, who although deadly enemies of the French 
were loath to fight against their kindred. 

Parkman says: "The soldiers were no soldiers, 
but farmers and farmers' sons who had volunteered 
for the simimer campaign. A greater part brought 
their own guns but had no bayonets. Most of 
them carried hatchets in their belts as a sort of sub- 
stitute, while at their sides were slung powder- 
horns. " 

After a tedious wait on the Albany flats the body 
moved up the Hudson to the Great Carr3dng Place, 
where General Lyman had begun a fortified store- 
house, which his men called Fort Lyman, but which 
was afterward named Fort Edward. 

Two Indian trails led from this point, one by the 
way of Wood Creek to Lake Champlain, the other 
over the plain to Lake George, which last was selected 
as the route. Two thousand men were ordered to 
the lake, preceded by axemen to hew out the 
way. At last they reached their destination. ' ' The 
most beautiful lake in America lay before them, then 
more beautiful than now, in the wild charm of untrod- 
den moiintains and virgin forests." 

The men made a camp near the water, at the head 
or south end of the lake. 

It will be remembered that the Hudson River, only 
nine miles away, flows south to New York Bay, while 




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Battle of Lake George 3 1 

the waters of Lake George and Lake Champlain flow 
north to the St. Lawrence. 

It would seem that General Johnson intended to 
advance on Crown Point through Lake George by 
bateaux, which were constantly arriving on heavy 
Dutch wagons over the carr^'ing place from Fort 
Lyman, fourteen miles away to the south. In front 
of the camp was a forest of pitch pine, on their right 
was a swamp, on their left the low hill on which Fort 
George was afterward built, and at their rear the lake. 
Little was done to clear the forest in front, though it 
would give excellent cover to the enemy. About three 
hundred Mohawks were in camp, and were considered 
great nuisances by the New Englanders. 

While Johnson lay at Lake George, Dieskau pre- 
pared a surprise for him, and concluded not to wait 
to be attacked, but moved nearly his whole force to 
Carrillon, or Fort Ticonderoga, which commanded 
both routes by which Johnson could advance, that 
of Wood Creek and that of Lake George. Hearing 
from a prisoner, who had invented a falsehood, 
that the English had fallen back, and that there 
were only five hundred men at Fort Lyman, 
Dieskau resolved by a rapid movement to seize 
the place. At noon the same day, leaving part of 
his force at Ticonderoga, he embarked the rest in 
canoes and advanced along the narrow prolongation 
of Lake Champlain that stretched southward through 
the wilderness to where the town of Whitehall now 
stands. He came to a point where the lake dwindled 
to a mere canal, while two mighty rocks capped w^ith 
stimted forests faced each ether from the opposing 



32 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

banks. As they neared the site of Whitehall they 
turned to the right and entered the lonely lake called 
South Bay, where they left their canoes and began 
their march through the forests toward Fort Lyman 
(Fort Edward). Having captured some mutinous 
drivers who had left the English camp without orders, 
they learned that a large force lay encamped at the 
lake. The Indians having refused to advance to 
attack the fort, Dieskau resolved to attack the camp 
at Lake George. Advancing through the gorge they 
were following, they passed around the south end of 
French Mountain. When within three miles from the 
head of the lake a prisoner was brought in who told 
them that a column of English troops was approach- 
ing. Dieskau's preparations were quickly made. 
The Canadians and Indians moved to the front and 
hid themselves in the forests along the slopes of West 
Mountain and the thickets on the other side. Behind 
every bush or tree crouched a Canadian or an Indian 
with gun cocked and ears intent, listening for the 
tramp of the approaching column. 

Some of the drivers who had escaped capture 
returned to Johnson's camp about midnight and re- 
ported a war party on the road to Fort Lyman. John- 
son called a council at once, and it was determined 
to send out two detachments of five hundred men 
each, one toward Fort Lyman and the other toward 
South Bay. Hendrick, chief of the Mohawks, a brave 
and sagacious warrior, expressed his dissent after a 
fashion of his own. He picked up a stick and broke 
it; then he picked up several sticks and showed 
that together they could not be broken. The hint 



Battle of Lake George 33 

was taken, and the two detachments were joined in 
one. Still King Hendrick shook his head : "If they 
are to be killed," he said, "they are too many; if 
they are to fight, they are too few. " Nevertheless he 
resolved to share their fortunes. He was too old and 
fat to go afoot, but Johnson lent him a horse, which 
he bestrode, and was soon at the head of the column, 
followed by two hundred of his warriors. Lieutenant 
Colonel Whiting soon came up with the balance of the 
detachment and the whole moved on together, so 
little conscious of danger that no scouts were thrown 
out in front or flank, and in full security entered the 
fatal snare. Before they were completely involved, 
the sharp eye of old Hendrick detected some sign of an 
enemy. At that instant a gun was fired from the 
bushes, the thickets blazed out a deadly fire, and the 
men fell by scores. Hendrick's horse was shot down 
and the chief was killed by a bayonet thrust as he 
tried to rise. Colonel Williams was also killed as he 
charged up the slopes on the right, calling his men to 
follow. The rear hurried forward to support their 
comrades, when a hot fire opened upon them from 
the forest, and then there was a panic. The van be- 
came the rear and the enemy rushed upon it shouting 
and screeching. , After a moment of total confusion 
a part of Williams' regiment, under command of 
Whiting, rallied and covered the retreat, fighting 
behind trees like Indians, and firing and falling back 
by turns, bravely aided by some of the Mohawks and 
by a detachment which Johnson sent to their aid. 
"And a very handsome retreat they made, and so 
continued till they came within three quarters of a 



34 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

mile of our camp. " So ended the fray long known in 
New England fireside story as the " bloody morning 
scout. " 

When the rattle of musketry was heard at the 
camp, gradually becoming louder, it was known that 
their comrades were retreating, and hasty prepara- 
tions were made for defending the camp. A barri- 
cade was made along the front, partly by wagons 
and inverted boats, but chiefly by trunks of trees 
hastily hewn down in the forest and laid end to end 
in a row. Three cannons were planted to sweep the 
road and another was dragged to the ridge of the hill. 
Five hundred men were detailed to guard the flanks, 
already protected by swamps, right and left. The rest 
stood behind the wagons, or lay flat behind the logs 
and inverted bateaux. Besides Indians (about 300), 
the force numbered between sixteen and seventeen 
himdred rustics. 

They were hardly at their posts when they saw 
ranks of white-coated soldiers moving down the road, 
and the glint of bayonets that seemed innumerable. 
At the same time a burst of war-whoops rose along the 
front, and "the Canadians and Indians came run- 
ning with undoubted courage right down the hill upon 
us expecting us to flee. If Dieskau had made an 
assault at that instant, there could be but little 
doubt of the result. He had his regulars well in hand, 
but the rest, red and white, were scattered through 
the woods and swamps yelling and firing from behind 
trees. ' ' The regulars, who deployed and fired by pla- 
toons, were met by a fire of grape from the artillery, 
which broke their ranks and scattered them through 



Battle of Lake George 35 

the forest seeking cover. The fire now became gen- 
eral, during which Johnson received a flesh wound in 
the thigh and returned to his tent, leaving General 
Lyman in command for the rest of the day. Baron 
Dieskau was also wounded three times, the last time 
across the hips, but seated behind a tree he denounced 
the Canadians and Indians, and ordered his adjutant 
to lead the regulars in a last effort against the English. 
But it was too late. Johnson's men were already 
crossing their row of logs, and in a few moments the 
whole dashed forward with a shout, falling upon the 
enemy with hatchets and the butts of their guns. 
The French and their allies fled. 

It may be apropos to introduce at this time 
the following letter from Baron Dieskau to M. de 
Vaudreuil : 

Camp of the English Army 
At Lake St. Sacrement, Sept. 15, 1755. 
Sir: 

I am defeated; my detachment is routed; a number of 
men killed and thirty or forty are prisoners, as I am told. 
I and M. Burnier, my Aid de Camp, are among the latter. 
I have received my share, four gunshot wounds, one of which 
is mortal. I owe this misfortune to the Iroquois. [Caugh- 
nawagas.] Our affair was well begun, but as soon as the 
Iroquois perceived some Mohawks, they came to a dead halt ; 
the Abenaquis and other Indians continued some time but 
disappeared by degrees; this disheartened the Canadians, so 
I found myself with the French troops engaged alone. I bore 
the attack, believing that I might rally the Canadians and 
perhaps the Indians, in which I did not succeed. 

The Regulars received the whole of the enemy's fire and 
were almost cut to pieces. I prophesied to you Sir that the 
Iroquois would play some scurvy trick ; it is unfortunate that 



36 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

I am such a good prophet; I cannot too much acknowledge 
Mr. de Johnson's kindness and attention to me. He is to 
send me to Orange to-morrow. I know not my fate either as 
regards my health or the disposition of my person. 

I have the honor to be &c., 

Baron de Dieskau. 

Sometime before the final rout several hundred 
Canadians and Indians left the field and returned to 
the scene of the morning ambush to plunder and 
scalp the dead. While resting themselves near a pool 
in the forest they were set upon by a scouting party 
from Fort Lyman, chiefly backwoodsmen, imder 
command of Captains Folsom and McGinnis. The 
assailants were greatly outnumbered, but after a 
hard fight the Canadians and Indians fled. The bod- 
ies of the slain were thrown into the pool which bears 
to this day the name of Bloody Pond. 

The English loss in killed, wounded, and missing at 
the battle of Lake George was 262, and that of the 
French, by their own account, was 228. For this 
victory General Johnson was made Baronet by King 
George 11. , and Parliament gave him five thousand 
pounds. 

The expedition of General Johnson and his occupa- 
tion of the lake led to the building of Fort William 
Henry, which was located near the lake and east of 
the two swamps between which Johnson had met and 
defeated the French under Dieskau. It would seem 
to have been a rude affair of no very great strength, 
but strong enough to resist the feeble attempts that 
were made to capture it between 1755 and 1757, when 
Montcalm, fresh from his victory at Oswego, advanced 
against it with 10,000 men, consisting of regulars, 




i 



% 



03 



< 



03 



a. 
a. 



Battle of Lake George 37 

Canadians and Indians. Fort William Henry was 
garrisoned with 2200, under command of Lieutenant 
Colonel Monroe, a brave Scotch veteran. 

Montcalm set out from Ticonderoga the ist of 
August, 1757, having sent a detachment to advance 
along the west side of the lake, while the balance em- 
barked in bateaux and canoes from Burned Camp. 
The whole force numbered 7600 effective whites and 
Indians. Parkman says: 

And now, as evening drew near, was seen one of those wild 
pageantries of war which Lake George has often witnessed, 
A restless multitude of birch canoes, filled with naked painted 
savages, glided by shores and islands like troops of swimming 
waterfowl. Two hundred and fifty bateaux came next, 
moved by sail or oar, some bearing the Canadian militia 
and some the battalions of old France, in trim and gay attire; 
then the cannon and mortars, each on a platform sustained 
by two bateaux lashed side by side; then the provision 
bateaux and the field hospital, and lastly a rear guard of 
regulars. 

Montcalm chose for the site of his operations the 
groimd now covered by the village of Caldwell. 

We will pass by the story of the siege and assault, 
the brave defence of Monroe and his little band of 
heroes and their anxious watching for reinforcements 
from General Webb, the despair when it became 
known that Webb had refused to march to their relief, 
and the final surrender of the gallant defenders, and 
the massacre of the sick and wounded and a large 
number of the helpless captives, and the final burn- 
ing of the heaps of slain, who were placed inside of 
the fort, which was then set on fire and destroyed. 



SS The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

In Jid}^ 1758, General Abercrombie's army, about 
fifteen thousand strong, sailed down the lake in one 
thousand boats and attacked Ticonderoga, without 
success. In July, 1759, General Amherst, with al- 
most an equal force, also traversed the lake, and took 
Crown Point and Ticonderoga. 

General Biu^goyne, before he began his march to 
Saratoga, made this point a depot of his supplies. 

There are also stories of Captain Rogers and his 
rangers that are as interesting as the most lurid tales 
of romance of the present; of Ethan Allen and his 
Green Moimtain Boys, and other expeditions of the 
war of the Revolution; and as late as the war of 1S14 
w^arlike bodies passed over its placid waters on expedi- 
tions of conflict and death to British soldiers, at 
Cumberland and Plattsburg, on Lake Champlain. 




c/: 



n3 
O 






CHAPTER IV 

PONTIAC — MOHAWKS REFUSE TO JOIN PONTIAC's INDI- 
ANS — THE AMBUSCADE AT BUSHY RUN — THE MAS- 
SACRE AT devil's hole — SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON'S 
LIFE THREATENED — ANGER OF THE MOHAWKS 

pONTIAC — what visions of horror and blood- 
^ thirsty cruelty are evolved in the mind at the 
mention of that savage name — massacre, treachery, 
the vanishing of households, flames, the scalping knife, 
the wail of infants, the despairing courage of men, the 
devoted sacrifice of women. Even after a century 
and a half it chills the blood and arouses murder- 
ous thought of retaliation against the fiendish sava- 
ges that wrought such widespread desolation, and 
deluged the western and southern frontiers of civil- 
ization in blood and ashes. 

Francis Parkman, whose interesting histories 
impress one with careful research and painstaking 
accuracy, has recorded in detail the destruction of 
many of the frontier forts and the heroism of their 
defenders. 

He tells how in 1760 Major Rodgers, an English 
officer, was sent into the country of Pontiac to drive 
the French out. He met Pontiac and told him his 
errand and delivered to him several belts of wampum. 
Pontiac replied, "I stand in the path you travel until 

39 



40 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

to-morrow." This the officer understood to mean 
that he was not to march further withotit his leave. 
The next day Pontiac assured him that he might pass 
through his country and he would protect him and 
his party. In this manner the wil}^ chief completeh^ 
deceived the English by professions of friendship 
until he had tmited his tribes and arranged his system 
of warfare. He appointed a commissary, and issued 
bills of credit, all of which he carefully redeemed. 
These bills were made of birch bark, on which was 
drawn the article wanted, with the figure of an otter, 
the insignia of the Ottawas. 

He relates how the fort at Michillimackinack was 
captured. It is said that four hi.mdred Indians 
gathered in the ^'icinity with presumably friendty in- 
tent. On June 4th, the Indians, as if for amusement, 
began to play ball. Such was the exciting character 
of the game that many of the soldiers went out to 
see it. Suddenl}^ the ball was thrown over the stock- 
ade as if b}^ accident, and the Indians rushing for it 
completely surprised the garrison and took the fort. 
Seventy of the soldiers were butchered and the other 
twenty reserved for slavery. 

Within fifteen days, Pontiac was in possession of 
all the western garrisons except three, Detroit alone 
remaining in the distant region of the Northwest. 

The garrison of Detroit consisted of three himdred 
men under Major Gladwin. When Pontiac came, 
which was before the news of the massacre at Michil- 
limackinack had reached the fort, his warriors, inter- 
mixed with many women and children, brought so 
many articles of trade that suspicion was lulled. 



Pontiac 41 

Pontiac encamped some distance from the fort and 
sent word to Major Gladwin that he had come to trade 
and wished to hold a talk with him to ' ' brighten the 
chain of peace" between the English and the Indians. 
The Major readily consented and the next morning 
was fixed for the conference. 

The same evening, when the fort was cleared of 
strangers a young and comely Indian woman was 
fotmd loitering, and being asked what she wanted 
made no reply. The IMajor, having noticed her 
presence in the fort, directed her to be conducted 
to him. Upon being questioned her answers were 
confused and constrained as though through fear. 
The Major talked with her kindly and urged her to 
tell what she knew, as he would protect her from all 
harm. Thus assured she told him that the chiefs 
who were to meet him in coimcil the next morning 
had formed a plan to murder him and the garrison, 
and capture the fort; that each chief would come to 
the council with his gun mider his blanket, and when 
Pontiac gave the signal, which was the delivery to 
the Major of a belt of wampum, they were to begin 
their work. Having confidence in the tale of the 
3'oung girl he at once took ever}^ precaution to put 
the garrison in the best possible state of defence. 

At the appointed hour of ten o'clock the next morn- 
ing Pontiac and his chiefs and a train of warriors filed 
into the fort, the gates of which were quietlv closed 
and securely guarded. Soldiers were lounging in 
groups here and there, but did not wander far from 
their carefully loaded firearms placed near at hand 
While some were drilling on the parade ground the 



42 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

vigilant eye of the chief evidently noticed an un- 
usual activity among the garrison, but his fears were 
somewhat quieted by being told that the men were 
exercising. 

The council opened and Pontiac began his speech, 
but when he came to the signal of presenting the belt, 
the peculiar attitudes of the men and officers, with 
guns in readiness and hand on sword told the chief 
that his plot was discovered. The belt was not given, 
and Pontiac closed his speech with many professions 
of good-will to the English. Major Gladwin, however, 
reproached the chief with his treachery and told him 
that he knew the whole of his diabolical plot. The 
Indian made an effort to deny that he intended any 
injury to his English friends, when the Major stepped 
to the side of one of the chiefs, pulled aside his 
blanket, and disclosed the loaded weapon. Pontiac 
and his warriors were then ordered to leave the fort. 
The next day began the siege of Fort Detroit, which 
lasted for twelve months. Sallies were made and fre- 
quent attempts of rescue by land and water resulted 
in many men being killed on both sides. 

During this period, Fort Pitt (now known as Pitts- 
burg, Pa.) was closely besieged by a large body of 
Delawares, Shawnees, and Indians from the North- 
west. Although the fort was not strong, it was only 
garrisoned by a small number of troops under Captain 
Huger, and was the refuge place for many homeless 
women and children from the marauding Indians. 
A body of troops under Colonel Bouquet was sent to 
the assistance of the place. 

Proceeding by forced marches, he gained the val- 



Pontiac 43 

ley of Bushy Run. The defiles appeared free. But 
on the 5 th of August, 1763, they were assailed 
by swarms of Indians who surrounded them on all 
sides in this narrow passage. The Indian mode of 
fighting gave them great advantage in this woody 
country, and the end of the day found Bouquet's 
troops still in possession of their camp, but the 
horses of their large convoy were stampeded, and 
many of the brave soldiers killed and a large num- 
ber wounded. As the Indians retired when the dark- 
ness of night fell around them, the Colonel barricaded 
his camp and protected his wounded with sacks of 
flour and other material of which the convoy was 
composed. The troops, especially the wounded, suf- 
fered terribly from the absence of water, of which 
not a drop could be had. 

In the morning the savages again surrounded the 
camp at a distance of about five hundred yards, their 
shouts and yells showing that the cordon was com- 
plete, and they made several bold efforts to penetrate 
the camp, and though repeatedly repulsed, cotild not 
be drawn close enough to allow the English to use the 
bayonet. 

At last Colonel Bouquet executed a manoeuvre 
which accomplished the desired purpose. Two com- 
panies were withdrawn to the interior of the camp, 
leaving a thin line of soldiers in front. Other com- 
panies were ordered to make a short detour through 
the wood to the right and left. The Indians observ- 
ing only a thin line in front of them, and thinking that 
the further movement of troops in the rear indicated 
a retreat of the English, rushed headlong towards the 



44 The Stor}' of Old Fort Johnson 

weak spot, pouring in a hea^"V' and galling fire. As 
the Indians neared the camp of the wounded, the 
Highlanders who had gone to the right came round 
upon the flank of the assailants and tired a close volley 
into the midst of the crowd, and then with }-ells as wild 
as their ovm fell on them with the bayonet, killing 
many and putting the rest to flight. But as they 
turned to run they were met by the two companies of 
hardy frontiersmen, who charged them from the left, 
poured among them a second volley, completing the 
rout. The foi-ir companies, uniting, drove the fi}*ing 
savages through the woods, giA'ing them no time to 
rally or reload their empty rifles, killing many and 
scattering the rest in hopeless confusion. 

Litters were soon made for the wounded, and, the 
flour and camp equipage being destroyed for the want 
of horses, the troops moved on in the direction of Fort 
Pitt. At their first camp they were again attacked, 
but their assailants received such a warm welcome 
from the hardy woodsmen that they soon retired. The 
next dav they renewed their march to Fort Pitt, where 
they arrived on the loth of August, 1763. 

Looking back from the standpoint of the twentietli 
century, however, we can reflect calmly on the cause 
and eft'ect of that awful "conspiracy of Pontiac" and 
give credit to that rude and untutored savage, whose 
sagacious mind saw in the advance of the English, 
after the defeat of the French and the conquest of 
Canada, the gradual extincrion of his people. 

Pontiac seems to have been a bom leader of men, a 
skilful strategist and fearless warrior. Although we 
cannot refrain from condemning his methods of war- 



Pontiac 45 

fare, we can appreciate his lofty, savage patriotism. 
With the skill of a practised diplomat he aroused to 
hvry the savage tribes of the West and cemented them 
together for the salvation of their coimtry against the 
advance of the English, who were slowly but surely 
dri\'ing them towards and beyond the ^lississippi. 

The Ottawa Confederacy, so called, was composed 
of many western tribes, the chief of which were the 
Wyandots or Hurons. Pottawatomies, Ojibwas, and 
Ottawas. Pontiac, although closely identitied with 
the Ottawas, was by birth a Cliippewa or Ojibwa. 
But Pontiac's influence extended farther than the 
Ottawa Confederacy and included the Delawares, 
Susquehannocks, Shawnees, and a large portion of 
the Senecas of western Xew York. 

At that time (1763) the English frontier did not 
extend beyond the Alleghanies, and, in the p^o^'ince 
of Xew York, the German Flats, on the Mohawk. A 
portion of the Senecas openly espoused the cause of 
Pontiac, but the Mohawks, Onondagas, Oneidas, and 
Cayugas indignantly rejected the overtures made b}' 
the rebellious westerners. Sir William Johnson's 
influence, however, prevented some of the Senecas 
from joining Pontiac's forces, but a large majority 
could not be restrained. ' ' Had the Six Nations gone 
over to the side of Pontiac, all the horrors that the 
French war had witnessed on the borders of Xew 
En2:land would have been renewed with even sreater 
ferocity in the pro\'ince of New York ; while with the 
convoys cut off, and the reinforcements waylaid and 
killed in passing from Albany to Oswego, Detroit 
must ine\'itablv have succumbed to the savasre. " 



4^ The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

At this critical period in the history of the 
province of New York, Sir WiUiam Johnson came to 
the front and placed a firm hand on the Iroquois. 
He had discovered that the Senecas had sent belts of 
wampum to the tribes of the Northwest, inviting the 
Wyandots in conjunction with the Delawares and 
Shawnees to fall treacherously upon Niagara and 
Fort Pitt. 

Under these circumstances Johnson set out on a 
wearisome journey through forest, stream, and lake to 
Detroit, to hold a general Indian council. At Niagara 
he called a council of the Senecas. He told them 
about the discovery of their plot, and asked the mean- 
ing of such conduct. They replied, denying all know- 
ledge of such a conspiracy, and put on an air of 
innocent surprise at the accusation. But Sir William 
was not in the mild mood he commonly used when 
dealing with the Indians. He had gained their re- 
spect and affection by his kindness, and now, when 
he thundered forth with righteous indignation, they 
quailed before him. : ' 

"As this is so villainous an affair" said he, "and 
carried so far, I must tell you plainly that I look upon 
what you now tell me as only an evasion and a kind 
of excuse to blind us. And I tell you that all the ex- 
cuses you can make, and all the rhetoric your nation 
is the master of, will not satisfy the General, nor con- 
vince me of your innocence unless a deputation of your 
chiefs appear at the general council which I am now 
calling at Detroit, and there, in the presence of all the 
nations, declare your innocence and disapprobation 
of what has been done by the two messengers last 




The Islands of the Mohawk. A Vista from " The Antlers."" 



Pontiac 47 

at Detroit. This I expect you will do to show your 
brethren your innocence, and all the Indians your 
detestation of so vile a plot. " Sir William then re- 
turned the belt which they had given with their denial, 
to show them that he did not believe what they said. 
This staggered the Indians and they consulted to- 
gether for some time. At last they declared that 
they would send the belt to their nation with John- 
son's request and had no doubt that some of the chief 
men would attend the meeting at Detroit. 

In due time Johnson met the Indians at Detroit and 
with the firing of two cannon the great council opened. 
An immense concourse of savages had gathered from 
the north, west, and south to see the man at whose 
house was the council fire of the Six Nations. They 
were all in gala dress, painted and ornamented. When 
the council gathered, Sir William and his officers ap- 
peared in full uniform. Johnson made them a long, 
friendly speech, and on the next day the representa- 
tives of the Northwest made a satisfactory reply. 
Kaiaghshota, a Seneca chief, arose, and made an 
eloquent speech clearing himself and his nation of 
participating in the recent plot. But Adariaghta, an 
influential Wyandot brave, sprang to his feet and 
confronted the Seneca with an exact account of how 
he had been one of the main plotters, and had been 
with the messengers sent to the Wyandots by the 
Senecas. Upon this an Ohio Indian, called the White 
Mingo, spoke, accusing the Wyandot of endeavoring 
in his turn to incite the Indians of his locality to a 
massacre of the English garrisons. A hubbub ensued 
which was likely to end in blows, when Sir William 



48 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

dissolved the council and the assembly gradually 
dispersed. 

After this Sir William held many councils at Johns- 
town and the German Flats in order to preserve 
friendly relations with the Six Nations ; otherwise the 
frontier of New York would have been devastated 
and all communication with the western parts cut 
off, but the Senecas continued sullen and rebellious. 

In one of his speeches at Johnstown he handed the 
friendly Iroquois an axe, saying, in regard to the 
Senecas : ' T now deliver you a good English axe, which 
I desire you will give to the warriors of all your na- 
tions, with directions to use it against these covenant- 
breakers by cutting off the bad links which have 
sullied the chain of friendsliip. " 

Notwithstanding all this the hostile tribes threatened 
Sir William, and he amied his tenants, numbering 
some himdred and twenty Higliland Scotch families, 
and fortified his home. The followers of Pontiac 
were so enraged against Sir William Jolinson, whose 
influence had prevented the Six Nations from joining 
them, that they swore to take his life. This aroused 
the faitliful Mohawks, who offered to join him against 
any nation who should attempt to caiTy such a threat 
into execution, and eventually led them to join the 
English in their efforts to suppress the rebellious 
chiefs. But the Senecas perpetrated one of the most 
sriiiesome acts of the war. Parkman thus describes 
the scene of the a\^*f ul traged}' called the ambuscade of 
Devil's Hole. Allusion has been made to the canying 
place of Niagara, which formed an essential link in 
the chain of communication between the province of 



Pontiac 49 

New York and the western country. Men and mili- 
tary stores were conveyed in boats up the river Niag- 
ara, as far as the present site of Lewiston. Thence a 
portage road several miles in length, built by Sir Wil- 
liam Johnson and finished in 1763, passed along the 
banks of the stream, and terminated at Fort Schlosser 
above the cataract. This road traversed a region 
whose sublime features have gained for it a world- 
wide renown: 

The river Niagara, a short distance below the cataract, 
assumes an aspect scarcely less remarkable than that stupend- 
ous scene itself. Its channel is formed by a vast ravine, 
whose sides, now bare and weather-stained, now shaggy with 
forest trees, rise in cliffs of appalling height and steepness. 
Along this chasm pour all the waters of the lakes, heaving 
their furious surges with the power of an ocean and the rage 
of a mountain torrent. About three miles below the cataract, 
the precipices which form the eastern wall of the ravine are 
broken by an abyss of awful blackness, bearing at the present 
day the name of the Devil's Hole. In its shallowest part, 
the precipice sinks sheer down to the depth of eighty feet, 
where it meets a chaotic mass of rocks, descending with an 
abrupt declivity to unseen depths below, a hundred feet or 
more. Within the cold and damp recesses of the gulf, a host 
of forest trees have rooted themselves; and standing on the 
perilous brink one may look down upon the mingled foliage 
of ash, poplar, and maple, while, above them all, the spruce 
and fir shoot their sharp and rigid spires upward into sunlight. 
The roar of the convulsed river swells heavily on the ear; and 
far below, its headlong waters, careening into foam, may be 
discerned through the openings of the matted foliage. 

On the 14th of September, 1763, a party of five 
hundred Senecas lay in wait for a convoy which, hav- 
ing discharged its cargo at Fort Schlosser, was slowly 



50 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

returning escorted by a sergeant and twenty-four 
soldiers. The party had advanced to that portion of 
the road which forms the brink of the Devil's Hole. 
The gulf yawned to their left, while to the right the 
road was skirted with wooded hills. Suddenly the 
Senecas rising from their ambush poured a rapid 
discharge of musketry, and then rushed forward with 
their glittering scalping-knives to complete their 
murderous work. Those who escaped the tomahawk 
were driven over the precipice and with horses and 
wagons went crashing down among the trees and rocks 
of the yawning chasm. Three only escaped. 

Two companies of soldiers, hearing the firing, hur- 
ried to their relief, but being led into ambush shared 
the same fate, being totally destroyed. The Senecas 
returned to their homes with eighty scalps. 

Again the redoubtable warriors of the "Valley," 
the terrible Mohawks, saved New York province from 
destruction, through their loyalty to Sir William. The 
rebellious western tribes, discouraged with their effort 
to embroil the whole of the Iroquois in the wholesale 
butchery of the English, threatened the life of John- 
son. At once the Mohawks rallied around him and, 
with Sir William and Brant as leaders, took up the 
hatchet against the Ottawa Confederacy. Discour- 
aged at the fact that these fierce warriors not alone 
remained neutral, but were advancing with the Eng- 
lish soldiers intent upon the destruction of the rebel- 
lious tribes, many of the western savages withdrew 
from the support of Pontiac. At a meeting of his 
chiefs and warriors with Crogan, the courageous dep- 
uty of Sir William, Pontiac acknowledged his defeat 




A Corner in a Cellar under Old Fort Johnson. 



Pontiac 5 1 

by offering the calumet and belt of peace. Parkman 
says: 

Crogan's efforts had been attended with signal success. 
The tribes of the West, of late bristling with defiance and hot 
for fight, had craved for forgiveness, and proffered the calumet. 
The war was over ; the last flickering of that wide conflagration 
had died away; but the embers still glowed beneath the 
ashes, and fuel and breath alone were wanting to rekindle 
those desolating fires. 

In finally making the great peace, Pontiac said: 
"I now deliver my pipe to be sent to Sir William John- 
son, that he may know I have made peace and taken 
the King of England for my father in presence of all 
the nations now assembled; and whenever any of 
these nations go to visit him they may smoke out 
of it with him in peace." 

After Pontiac had sued for peace, some time elapsed 
before the turbulent tribes ceased their murderous 
raids. After raising the siege of Fort Pitt the Indians 
retreated as far as the Muskingum, where they col- 
lected their forces and attached new tribes to their 
confederacy, and made every preparation for renew- 
ing the struggle in the spring, but Colonel Bouquet 
with a large force was sent against them. Unable 
to check his advance the Delawares, Shawnees, and 
Senecas asked for a conference to be held on Oct. i8, 
1767. Such conference was ordered, and the chiefs 
and principal warriors of the above tribes were pres- 
ent. The Colonel informed them peace would not be 
granted unless they should deliver to him all prisoners 
whom they had held in possession. The Delawares 
reported loi prisoners which they would deliver up. 



52 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

As many of the raids of the Delawares had been made 
on the borders of Pennsylvania and the southern 
frontier of New York an exchange was made at Al- 
bany, and is thus described by Mrs. Grant in her 
Memoirs of An American Lady: 

The joyful day when the congress was holden for concluding 
peace I never shall forget. Another memorable day is en- 
graven in indelible characters upon my memory. Madame 
[Mrs. Schuyler], being deeply interested in the projected ex- 
change, brought about a scheme for having it take place at 
Albany, which was more central than any other place, and 
where her influence among the Mohawks could be of use in 
getting intelligence about the children, and sending messages 
to those who had adopted them, and who by this time were 
very unwilling to part with them, in the first place because 
they thought the children would not be so happy in our 
manner of life, which appeared to them both constrained 
and efEeminate. This exchange had a large retrospect. For 
ten years back there had been every now and then, while 
these Indians were in the French interests, ravages upon 
the frontiers of the different provinces. In many instances 
these children had been snatched away while their parents 
were working in the fields or were afterwards killed. 

A certain day was appointed, on which all who had lost 
their children, or sought those of their relations, were to come 
to Albany in search of them; where on that day all Indians 
possessed of white children were to present them. Poor 
women who had travelled some hundred miles from the back 
settlements of Pennsylvania and New England appeared 
here, with anxious looks and aching hearts, not knowing 
whether their children were alive or how exactly to identify 
them if they should meet them. I observed these appre- 
hensive and tender mothers were, though poor people, all 
dressed with peculiar neatness and attention, each wishing 
the first impression that her child should receive of her 
might be a favorable one. On a gentle slope near the fort 



Pontiac 53 

stood a row of temporary huts, built by retainers to the troops ; 
the green before these buildings was the scene of these pathetic 
recognitions, which I failed not to attend. The joy of even 
the happy mothers was overpowering, and vented in tears; 
but not like the bitter tears of those who, after long travel, 
found not what they sought. It was affecting to see the 
deep and silent sorrow of Indian women, and of children 
who knew no other mothers, and clung fondly to their bosoms, 
from whence they were not torn without the most piercing 
shrieks ; while their own fond mothers were distressed beyond 
measure at the shyness and aversion with which these long 
lost objects of their love received their carresses, I shall 
never forget the grotesque figures and wild looks of these 
young savages; nor the trembling haste with which their 
mothers arrayed them in the new clothes they had brought 
for them, as hoping that with the Indian dress they would 
throw off their habits and attachments. It was in short a 
scene impossible to describe but most affecting to behold. 



CHAPTER V 

VAGARIES OF MEX'S MIXDS 

IX a conversation vrith a noted author and soldier 
^ in regard to history, particularly American his- 
tory, he remarked that a true history of the Revo- 
lution never had been and probably never would be 
written. His argimient was, that the time to gather 
historic facts was witliin the memory of men who 
participated in a particular episode, and from docu- 
ments pertaining thereto or from persons li\-ing in 
that period and cognizant of the facts from personal 
knowledge. 

It is true that documentary history is most val- 
uable, but it often tells but a fragment of the story. 
Personal knowledge is also valuable, but as such 
history is frequently colored by partisan feeling it 
often becomes misleading from the interests or per- 
sonal hatred of the relater, or narrator. Then again, 
the liistorian has to depend, in a great measure, on 
the researches of his predecessors and often tinds, if 
his researches have been thorough, errors made and 
repeated over and over again by pre\"ious "\;\Titers 
which make the pages of early history as confusing as 
the doors of Bagdad marked by Morgianna's chalk. 
It has been said that the history of one centirry should 
be \\Titten by the people of the next. This may be 

54 



Vagaries of Men's Minds 55 

true in a great measure, particularly in biographies 
and historic episodes of a particular locality. 

Distance of time often lends enchantment to the 
lives of noted or notorious persons, and strips them 
of the ignomin}^ that pervaded their lives, robing 
them with motives for their actions that practically 
an*ay them in a new character. Witness the change 
of sentiment in regard to Major Andre, the spy, and 
the partial rehabilitation of Benedict Arnold. A 
century after his \41e treason we are beginning to 
think of him as a brave soldier and a gi"eat general, 
and linger over his charge at the battle of Saratoga, 
his march to Fort Schuyler after the battle of Oris- 
kany, his terrible march to Quebec in November 
and December, 1775, and his gallantry under the la- 
mented Montgomery at the stonning of that northern 
stronghold. 

Even Judas Iscariot is now claimed by some people 
as a mart\T, although still a murderer. They say that 
it was ordained from the beginning of the world 
that one of the disciples should betray the Christ 
and thereby suffer the toniients of the damned. 
A recent wTiter makes his hero say: 

It is said that Satan entered into Judas, but it looks to me 
more likely that the Angel of the Lord entered liim, he being 
a good man to start with or our Lord would not have chosen 
him to be a disciple. Judas knew for sure, after the Lord 
told him, that one of the disciples would betray the Saviour 
and go to hell, where the wonn dieth not and the fire is not 
quenched. 

Judas loved all of the disciples very much, so he, being 
imbued with the doctrine of the fatherhood of God and the 
brotherhood of man, thought that it was liis duty to save 



56 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

the others from the torments of the damned. So he went 
out and betrayed his Lord for 30 pieces of silver. He knew 
that if he did not do it, it might have been Peter, James or 
John or some other disciple that the Saviour loved, because it 
had to he done by one of them, for the Lord had said so. After 
it was done and he knew that the others were saved from the 
foul deed, he went to the rulers, threw down their money, 
and went and hanged himself. If he had been a bad man 
he would have kept the money. Of course Judas knew he 
would go to hell and Jesus would go to heaven, therefore he 
(Judas) out of love for his companions committed the deed 
to save them from torments eternal. 

I have been tempted to introduce, at this time, the 
above incidents or examples, to show the vagaries of 
men's minds and the tendency of the biographers of 
this age to analyze the motives of men who have per- 
formed great deeds or committed great acts of virtue 
or villany, and to excuse or rehabilitate the char- 
acter of historic personages who have been contemned 
by their cotemporaries. 



SIR JOHN JOHNSON 

The following is an extract from Maj.-Gen. Watts 
de Peyster's sketch of Sir John Johnson in his book 
entitled The Orderly Book of Sir John Johnson: 

"The Past appeals to the impartiality of the Future. 
History replies. But often generations pass away 
ere that reply can be given in a determinate form. 
For not until passionate pulses have ceased to beat, 
not until flattery has lost its power to charm, and 
calumny to vilify, can the verdict of history be pro- 
nounced. Then from the clouds of error and preju- 
dice the sun of truth emerges. " 




Sir John Johnson, Bart. 



Sir John Johnson 57 

Sir John Johnson, the son and heir of Sir William 
Johnson, Bart., was bom at Johnson's Settlement, on 
the Mohawk River opposite the city of Amsterdam, 
N. Y., November 5, 1742. In the spring following 
(1743) the family moved into a large stone mansion, 
which Sir William named Mount Johnson, situated 
within 200 paces of the confluence of the Kayadero- 
seros or Old Fort Creek with the Mohawk River. (The 
place was also called Johnson's Castle.) Here John 
Johnson grew to early manhood, having the compan- 
ionship of his younger sisters Anna and Mary, and 
undoubtedly received the rudiments of education 
from the governess employed by Sir William for the 
instruction of his children. (It is said that she 
was the widow of an English officer, but her name is 
not known.) 

Mrs Grant of Laggan gives a description of the 
sisters : 

These two young ladies inherited in a great measure the 
personal advantages and strength of understanding for 
which their father was so distinguished. Their mother dying 
when they were young bequeathed them to the care of a 
friend, the widow of an officer who had fallen in battle, who 
devoted her life to her fair pupils. To these she taught 
needlework of the most elegant and ingenious kinds, reading, 
and writing; their monitress not taking the smallest concern 
in family management, nor the least interest in any worldly 
thing but themselves; far less did she enquire about the 
fashions or diversions which prevailed in a world she had 
renounced upon the death of her husband, and from which 
she and her pupils seemed to remain forever estranged. 

Never was anything so uniform as their dress, their occu- 
pations, and the general tenure of their lives. In the morning 
they rose early, read their prayer-book, I believe, but certainly 



58 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

their bible, fed their birds, tended their flowers, and break- 
fasted; then they were employed for some hours with un- 
wearied perseverance, at fine needlework for the ornamental 
parts of dress, which were the fashion of the day, without 
knowing to what use they were to be put, as they never wore 
them, and had not at the age of sixteen ever seen a lady(?) 
excepting each other and their governess; then they read as 
long as they chose, either romances of the last century [17th] 
of which their friend had an ample collection, or Rollin's 
ancient history, the only books they had ever seen; after 
dinner they regularly, in summer, took a long walk; or an 
excursion in a sledge, in winter, with their friend, and then 
returned and resumed their wonted occupations, with the 
sole variation of a stroll in the garden in summer, and a 
game of chess, or shuttle-cock in winter. 

Their dress was to the full as simple and uniform as every- 
thing else; they wore wrappers of the finest chintz, and green 
silk petticoats; and this the whole year round without 
variation. 

Their hair which was long and beautiful was tied behind 
with a simple ribbon; a large calash shaded each from the 
sun, and in the winter they had long fur-lined scarlet mantles 
that covered them from head to foot. 

Their meals were taken apart from the household and their 
father visited them every day in their apartments. This 
innocent and uniform life they led till the death of their 
governess, which happened when the eldest sister Anne was 
not quite seventeen. 

Anne married Col. Daniel Claus and died about 
1798. Mary married her cousin, Guy Johnson. 
She had a daughter Mary, who married Lord Clyde, 
better known as Sir Colin Campbell, queller of the 
East India mutiny, and inseparably connected with 
the siege of Lucknow. You will remember the story: 
how a small body of British troops imder Generals 




d r ^W 



$^ 



Midwinter in the Mohawk Valley. 



Sir John Johnson 59 

Havelock and Outram were besieged in the residency 
of Lucknow by ten thousand mutineers. For days 
and weeks they watched for the coming of reHef. 
At last, when hope is almost gone, a sentry on the 
walls thinks he hears the pibroch of the Highlanders. 
With hand to ear he listens with fear and trembling 
until at last, nearly delirious with joy, he hears the 
sound again, and shouts to his comrades, "Hark! 
dinna ye hear the slogan? The Campbells are 
coming!" and soon the Highlanders under Sir 
Colin Campbell bring relief to the almost despairing 
soldiers. 

Of Sir John Johnson's early life, I shall have to 
follow in the footsteps of earlier writers and state 
that very little is known of his boyhood days. We 
do know, however, that at the age of thirteen 
years he and Joseph Brant, then an Indian lad of 
the same age of John Johnson, followed Sir William's 
troops to Lake George in 1755 and that Brant is said 
to have participated in the engagement at ' ' Bloody 
Pond." Sir John Johnson at the age of seventeen 
years was present at the fall of Fort Niagara, July 
24, 1759. The forces in this engagement were under 
the command of Gen. Sir William Johnson. In 1761 
he accompanied his father to Detroit at a conference 
with the western Indians, and in 1764 John Johnson, 
in command of three hundred Iroquois, followed the 
expedition of Colonel Bradstreet from- Fort Niagara 
to Detroit. 

In October, 1765, on the return of Lord Adam Gordon to 
England after a visit to the Baronet at Johnson Hall, the 
latter sent his son John with Lord Gordon to England, as he 



6o The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

said "to wear off the rusticity of a country education." On 
being presented at court by such a dignitary, he was at once 
knighted as the son of Sir WiUiam who was afterguards very 
much gratified on hearing of the fact. 

On Jtine 29, 1773, Sir John married the beautiful 
Mary, affectionately called "Polly," Watts, age 
nineteen, daughter of John Watts, at his home in 
New York city. That Sir William did not attend the 
wedding is proved by the following letter to a friend : 

I thank you very kindly for your congratulations on the 
choice my son has lately made, and am very happy to hear 
that the young lady appears so deser\'ing in the eyes of my 
friends, having left it to his own discretion, without tying 
up his hands in a business on which his future happiness 
must so greatly depend. The precarious state of my health, 
however, for some years past, with the often unexpected 
calls for my presence in the country, put it out of my power 
to promise myself the pleasure with any certainty of bearing 
a part on the occasion, notwithstanding the powerful induce- 
ments of love and friendship. I am very sensible of the force 
of both. 

On the morning after the ceremony the young 
couple embarked on a schooner for Albany, reaching 
Johnson Hall towards the close of July. It is assumed 
that the happy pair lived at the old baronial man- 
sion, Fort Johnson, where Sir John had been living 
since 1763, as mentioned in a former chapter. At the 
death of his father, however, he removed to Johnson 
Hall, Johnstown. 

The death of Sir William was a great blow to his 
family, and cast a feeling of gloom throughout the 
length and breadth of the valley of the Mohawk and 




Deep Casemented Window m the Lady Johnson Room. 



Sir John Johnson 6i 

the adjacent territory. For thirty-five years he had 
been companion, counsellor, and friend of the sturdy 
Hollanders, thrifty Palatines, volatile Irish, and 
steady Scotchmen who had peopled the valley and 
converted gloomy forest lands into smiling meadow- 
lands within his memory and with his assistance and 
his advice. His supreme power over those "Indians 
of Indians," the Iroquois, was an element of safety 
to them which they were proud to acknowledge and 
give him full credit for. Owning vast tracts of lands 
he had become a great factor in the trade and com- 
merce of the valley, and his upright dealing and 
strict sense of honor had also given to his opinion the 
force of legal authority in the colonies. 

Some historians claim that if he had lived he would 
have sided with the colonies in the war of the Revo- 
lution that was to follow. Be that as it may, I do 
not hesitate to assert that whatever the course he 
would have taken, the majority of inhabitants of 
Try on County would have followed him, in which 
case there would have been no Oriskany, no siege of 
Fort Schuyler, no Wyoming or Cherry Valley, no 
Indian raids or desolation of the valley, and possibly 
no Saratoga. 

Sir John, however, being of a different character 
from his father and not having the same degree of 
moral power over the population of Try on County, 
either Indians or whites, antagonized the yeomanry 
from the very beginning of his succession to the 
titles and estates of Sir William, with his arrogance 
and assumption of superiority on account of his 
British education, and looked down upon the humble 



62 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

friends of his father as being but little better than 
human chattels, and not worthy to associate with 
him, a knight and baronet of the realm of Great 
Britain. 

Wm. L. Stone gives an account of the first clash 
in Tryon County between the Tories and patriots. 
Shortly after the news of the battle of Lexington had 
been received, a public meeting of the patriots was 
held at the house of John Veeder in Caughnawaga 
(Fonda). It was attended by about three hundred 
people, who assembled, unarmed, for the purpose of 
deliberation, and also to erect a liberty-pole — a most 
hateful object in that day in the eyes of the loyalists. 
Among the Whigs on that occasion were Sampson 
Sammons and his two sons Jacob and Frederick. 
Before they had accomplished the object for which 
they had met, the proceedings were interrupted by 
the arrival of Sir John Johnson accompanied by his 
two brothers-in-law, Colonels Guy Johnson and 
Daniel Claus, together with Col. John Butler and a 
large number of retainers armed with swords and 
pistols. Guy Johnson mounted a high stoop and ha- 
rangued the people at length, and with great vehe- 
mence. He dwelt upon the strength and power of 
the King and was very virulent in his language 
toward the disaffected, causing their blood to boil 
with indignation. But they were unarmed and for 
the most part unprepared, if not indisposed, to pro- 
ceed to any act of violence. The orator at length be- 
came so abusive that Jacob Sammons waxing 
warm and zealous called him a liar and a villain. 
Guy Johnson descending from his rostrum seized 



Sir John Johnson 63 

Sammons by the throat and called him a d — d villain 
in return. 

A scuffle ensued, during which one of the intruders 
struck Sammons with a loaded whip, knocking him 
down. On recovering from the momentary stupor 
of the blow he found one of Johnson's servants sitting 
astride of his body. A well-directed blow relieved 
him of the incubus, and springing to his feet he 
threw off his coat and prepared for a fight. Two pis- 
tols were presented to his breast, but not discharged 
as Sammons was again knocked down by the clubs 
of the loyalists, and severely beaten. On recovering 
his feet once more, he perceived that his Whig friends 
had all decamped with the exception of a few of the 
Fondas, Veeders, and Vischers. The loyalists also 
drew off, and Jacob Sammons returned to his father's 
house bearing on his body the first scars of the Rev- 
olutionary contest in Tryon County. 

Although the patriots of Tryon County were well 
convinced of Sir John's loyalty to the King and had 
strong reasons to fear hostile proceeding on the part 
of Sir John and his two hundred Highlanders, the 
Tryon County Committee of Safety, determining to 
probe his intentions at once and to the bottom, sent 
him the following letter: 

Tryon County Committee Chambers, 
Oct. 26, 1775. 

Honorable Sir: — 

As we find particular reason to be convinced of your opinion 
in the questions hereafter expressed, we require you, that 
you'll please to oblige us with your sentiments thereupon in 
a few lines by our messengers, the bearers hereof, Messrs. 



64 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

Ebenezer Cox, James McMaster, and John James Klock, 
members of our Committee. 

We want to know whether you will allow that the inhabi- 
tants of Johnstown and Kingsborough may form themselves 
into companies, according to the regulations of our Continen- 
tal Congress, for the defence of our Country's cause; and 
whether your honor would be ready himself to give his per- 
sonal assistance to the same purpose. 

Also whether you pretend a prerogative to our County 
court-house and gaol, and would hinder or interrupt the 
Committee, to make use of the same public houses, to our 
want and service in a common cause? 

We don't doubt you will comply with our reasonable 
requests, and thereby oblige, Honorable Sir, 

Your most humble and obedient servants. 
By order of the Committee. 

Nicholas Herkimer, 
Chairman. 
To the Honorable Sir John Johnson 
Johnson Hall. 

To this letter Sir John replied — 

That as to embodying his tenants, he never did or should 
forbid them ; but they might save themselves further trouble, 
as he knew his tenants would not consent. Concerning 
himself, sooner than lift his hand against his King, or sign 
any association, he would suffer his head to be cut off. As 
to the gaol and Court-house, he would not deny the use of it 
for the purpose for which it was built, but that they were his 
property until he should be refunded seven hundred pounds. 
[He further said] he had been informed that two thirds of 
Canajoharie and German Flats people had been forced to 
sign the Association. 

Although counselled by the Congress to refrain 
from any overt acts against the Johnsons, the people 
of Tryon County were much incensed against the 



Sir John Johnson 65 

Johnstown loyalists, partictilarly so when it became 
evident that Sir John was making preparations to 
fortify Johnson Hall and to garrison the same with 
his Highland retainers, and, as rumor declared, three 
hundred Iroquois savages, who were to sally out and 
ravage the surrounding country. I have called the 
Iroquois savages, but Mrs. Grant of Laggan, whom 
whom I have quoted before, pertinently asks: 

Were they savages, who had fixed habitations; who cul- 
tivated rich fields; who built castles (for so they called 
their not incommodious wooden houses surrounded with 
stockades) ; who planted maize and beans and showed great 
ingenuity in constructing and adorning their canoes, arms 
and clothing; they who had wise unwritten laws and con- 
ducted their wars, treaties, and alliances with deep and 
sound policy; they whose eloquence was bold and nervous 
and animated; whose language was sonorous, musical and 
expressive ; who possessed generous and elevated sentiments, 
heroic fortitude and unstained probity ? 

In regard to the body of Roman Catholic High- 
landers that Sir John had surrounded himself with, 
they were particularly obnoxious to the Protestant 
Palatines, not only on account of their swaggering 
arrogance and belted claymores, but because thsy 
detested their religion. The Johnsons and their 
friends, however, made no further efforts to meet 
their opponents, but stood strictly on the defensive, 
and the palisades, if ever completed, were not garri- 
soned by the Iroquois. 

About this time Guy Johnson received warnings 
of a plot to kidnap him. He at once assembled the 
officers of his department and a party of trusty men 



66 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

of his own regiment of militia and fortified his house 
(known as Guy Park, on the Mohawk River about two 
miles east of Fort Johnson) to resist attack. A bod}?" 
of Mohawks gathered there to defend him and for the 
time being the mansion resembled a frontier fort. 
Colonel Guy was closely watched and attacks threat- 
ened, but no overt move was made on the part of the 
patriots. 

It may be of interest to know^ that the first trace 
of actual activity on the part of Joseph Brant (Thay- 
endanega) is a letter written by him at Guy Park, 
in the name of Aaron, John, and another Mohawk 
chief, in May, 1775, to the chiefs of the Oneidas itrging 
them to come to the assistance of Colonel Guy John- 
son. This letter was intercepted, and as the Oneidas 
failed to appear, Colonel Guy Johnson, accompanied 
by the ofiicers of his department, a body-guard of 
Mohawks, and about a hundred Tories among whom 
were Daniel Claus, John and Walter Butler, Barent 
Frey, Han Yost Herkimer, Gilbert Tice, Joseph Brant, 
William and Peter, half-breed sons of Sir William 
Johnson, besides other men of weight and influence, 
marched rapidly up the valley and disappeared in 
the recesses of the Indian country. A majority of 
the party arrived in Montreal in August, 1775. 

Sir John remained in the Mohawk Valley after 
Colonel Guy Johnson's departure, and, strong in his 
tenants and in his local influence, bid defiance to 
the Committee of Safet}^ and began to arm his 
tenants. His intention being suspected. General 
Philip Schuyler with foi-U* thousand troops marched 
to Johnstown, disarmed his tenants, and took him 







> 

O 



a, 



fe 



Sir John Johnson 67 

prisoner. He was sent to Fishkill, where he was 
liberated on parole. The following May, however, 
Sir John, regardless of his promise, broke his parole 
and, accompanied by his Highlanders and other 
tenants, fled to Montreal by the way of Sacondaga 
and the Adirondack wilderness. Their route was 
probably through the lake region of Hamilton and 
Franklin counties to the St. Lawrence River at St. 
Regis. This seems to be proved from the fact that 
near the angle of junction of the St. Lawrence and 
Hamilton county line, and in the vicinity of Big 
Tupper Lake, a brass cannon and carriage lies nearly 
buried in the accumulation of the muck of the forest. 
It is said that a large forest tree has grown to a great 
height through one of the tires of a decayed wheel. 

The exodus of Sir John and his followers was so 
hurried that they had no time to collect provisions, 
and during the nine days they were in the forests 
the whole party lived entirely upon wild onions, roots , 
and leaves of beech trees. Their feet became sore 
from travelling, and several of their number dropped 
out from exhaustion from time to time in the wilder- 
ness and were afterward brought in by Indians sent 
out for that purpose. During the nineteen days 
which elapsed between the time he left Johnstown 
and his arrival at Montreal, the party endured all the 
suffering that it seems possible for man to endure 
and live. 

Of course Lady Johnson remained at the Hall, but 
was soon removed to Albany by Colonel Dayton, 
where she was retained as a kind of hostage for the 
peaceful conduct of her husband. 



68 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

Upon Sir John's arrival in Montreal he was im- 
mediately commissioned a colonel in the British 
service, and raised a command of two battahons, 
composed of those who accompanied him in his 
flight, and other American loyalists and others who 
had followed their example. The}^ were called the 
Royal Greens, probably from the color of their uni- 
form. In the month of January, 1777, he found his 
way to New York city, then in the hands of the 
British forces. 

It is probable that the loadstone that drew him 
there was his young wife, who subsequently escaped 
from her captivity. From that time he became 
one of the bitterest foes of his own contrymen of any 
who engaged in that contest. 



CHAPTER VI 

OGHWAGA IN THE SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY — MOHAWKS 
AT OGHWAGA AND ORISKANY — INTERVIEW BE- 
TWEEN GENERAL HERKIMER AND JOSEPH BRANT 
— MOLLIE BRANT DRIVEN FROM INDIAN CASTLE 
BY THE ONEIDAS 

IN the eighteenth-century history of the Mohawk 
^ Valley and the Mohawks the name Oghwaga is 
frequently met, but in a vague, indefinite way, that 
leaves the reader in doubt of its locality or the particu- 
lar tribe to which it belonged. Later investigation, 
however, brings to light the fact that it was located 
on the Susquehanna River near the confluence of the 
Unadilla River and the Cherry Valley Creek, which 
form the upper waters of the Susquehanna. It is 
thought to have existed as early as 1650, and was a 
primitive trading post for the Delaware, Susque- 
hanna, and far western Indians, who there met the 
Dutch and English traders from Albany, and later 
Schenectady. Halsey quotes Stone as saying that 
the place was an aboriginal Port Royal, where many 
of the Six Nations who had become disgusted with 
the politics of their several cantons were in the habit 
of settling. 

Whatever may have been its origin, it was evidently 

69 



70 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

a place of considerable importance as early as 1750, 
and tinder the jurisdiction of the Iroquois. It is 
said that many Mohawks and Oneidas dwelt there, 
and it was probably the third village or castle during 
the last French war, the others being the Canajorhees 
at Indian Castle, and the Mohawks proper at the old 
established village of Tiononderoga, at Fort Hunter. 
F. W. Halsey in The Old New York Frontier has 
given us the best account of that interesting locality 
that has been written. J. R. Simms speaks of a 
large tribe of Schoharie Indians. It is probable that 
he has confounded them with the Oghwagas. 

W. L. Stone has transcribed, in his Life of Brant, 
a singular document, which I have never seen printed 
elsewhere, purporting to be a speech of Oneida war- 
riors delivered to Colonel Elmore at Fort Schuyler, 
January 19, 1777: 

Brother: We are sent here by the Oneida chiefs in con- 
junction with Onondagas. They arrived at our village 
yesterday. They gave us the melancholy news that the 
grand council-fire at Onondaga was extinguished. We have 
lost of their town by death ninety, among whom are three 
principal sachems. We, the remaining part of the Onon- 
dagas, do now inform our brethren that there is no longer 
a council-fire at the capital of the Six Nations. However, 
we are determined to use our feeble endeavors to support 
peace through the confederate nations. But let this be kept 
in mind, that the council-fire is extinguished. It is of im- 
portance that this be immediately communicated to General 
Schuyler, and likewise to our brothers the Mohawks. In or- 
der to effect this, we deposit this belt with Te-key-an-e-don- 
hot-te, Col. Elmore, commander at Fort Schuyler, who is 
sent here by General Schuyler to transact all matters relative 
to peace. We therefore request him to forward this intel- 



In the Susquehanna Valley 71 

ligence in the first place to Gen. Herkimer, desiring him to 
communicate it to the Mohawk castle near to him and then 
to Major Fonda, requesting him to immediately communicate 
it to the Lower Mohawk castle. Let the belt then be for- 
warded to General Schuyler, that he may know that our 
council- fire is extinguished and can no longer bum. 

W. L. Stone remarks: 

This singular document is worthy of preservation not only 
as the authentic but as the only account of the occurrence 
recorded. It contains a mystery, however, which cannot 
now be solved. 

Undoubtedly the above speech was the occasion 
of great uneasiness throughout the Mohawk Valley, 
which was again awakened by the reported gathering 
of the Indians at Oghwaga. Scouts were moving 
along the borders, while a detachment of Continental 
troops kept at a distance small bodies of Indians and 
Tories. In February Colonel Harper was sent to 
Oghwaga by the Provincial Congress with a letter to 
the Indians gathered there, to ascertain their inten- 
tions. Colonel Harper, having given private orders 
to the captains of his regiment to hold themselves in 
readiness in case their services should be required, 
departed on his mission accompanied by one Indian 
and one white man. Arriving on February 27 th, he 
was well received by the Indians and assured that 
the report of a contemplated invasion was untrue. 

Satisfied with the sincerity of their professions he 
caused an ox to be roasted and invited the Indians 
to the barbecue, who at that time expressed their 
sorrow on account of the troubles of the country, and 
declared that they would take no part against it. 



72 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

After returning from the mission the Colonel was, 
for a time, in command of one of the small Schoharie 
forts. In March or April of the same year he had oc- 
casion to go alone through the woods from Schoharie 
to his home at Harpersfield, and thence, when retiim- 
ing, struck to the westward toward the head waters of 
the Susquehanna. While ascending a hill he sud- 
denly saw a company of Indians approaching. As 
they had discovered him, any attempt to fly would 
have been fatal. Having a great coat over his mili- 
tary dress, he made no attempt to avoid a meeting, 
and in passing the Colonel and the Indians exchanged 
salutations. One of the Indians he recognized as 
a Mohawk called Peter, whom he had formerly seen 
at Oghwaga. 

They did not recognize him, however, but from his 
manner of speech supposed him to be a loyalist, and 
under that impression informed him that their in- 
tention was to cut off the "Johnstone settlement," 
a small Scotch colony on the eastern shore of the 
Susquehanna, near Unadilla. Quietly ptirsuing his 
way until out of sight of the hostile Indians he 
changed his course, hurried back to Harpersfield, 
collected a body of fifteen resolute men, and gave 
chase to the marauders. In addition to their arms 
and a requisite supply of food, he directed each man 
of his command to take with him a rope. In the 
course of the following night they discovered the 
camp-fire of the Indians on the bank of the Charlotte 
River. Halting for a while to rest and refresh them- 
selves and prepare for the contest, the Colonel and his 
men advanced with great caution, prepared for an 




Captain Joseph Brant. 



In the Susquehanna Valley 'jz 

instant dash upon the sleeping foe at the first sign of 
alarm. It was almost da3'light and the Indians were 
in profound slumber, with their amis stacked in the 
middle of their encampment. Harper and his party 
silently removed the guns to a place of safety as a 
measure of precaution. When all was ready each 
man singled out his antagonist and advanced stealth- 
ily, with cords in readiness, uatil they stood over each 
sleeping foe, when, at a signal from Hai*per, they 
threw^ themselves upon the prostrate Indians and 
after a short and desperate struggle bound them 
securely. When daylight came Peter discovered his 
captor. "Huh!" he exclaimed, "GDlonel Hai^per — 
why did not I know you yesterday?" The intrepid 
Colonel proceeded to Albany with his prisoners and 
surrendered them to the commanding officer of the 
station. 

After the visit of Colonel Harper to Oghwaga in 
February, 1777, Thayendanega (Joseph Brant), hav- 
ing had some difficulty with Colonel Guy Johnson, 
came to Oghwaga with about ninety of his warriors, 
mostly Mohawks. The march of so large a body of 
warriors across the country added not a little un- 
easiness to the settlers, and to the Try on County 
Committee of Safety. Although Brant, so far, had 
not committed any act of hostility within the prov- 
ince of New York, his presence did not improve the 
pacific intentions of the many Indians gathered on 
the banks of the Susquehanna, and in the end led to 
an open rupture. In June a large bod}^ of Indians, 
under Brant, ascended the Susquehanna from Ogh- 
waga to Unadilla and requested an interview with 



74 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

Rev. Mr. Johnstone and the militia officers at that 
place, and demanded food. Having required the 
people of that settlement to furnish his warriors with 
provisions, Brant told the officers that he had entered 
the British service and would not allow any of the 
Mohawks to be seized and confined to their castles, 
as he understood had been done. The}^ remained 
two days at Unadilla, and when they left drove off 
some cattle and sheep. At this time the Mohawks 
at the lower castle (Fort Hunter), under Little Abra- 
ham, had not been drawn away by Brant and Guy 
Johnson, while at the upper castle (at Danube) 
Molly Brant remained with a number of Mohawks. 

(Orders having been given somewhat later to de- 
stroy the habitation of the Mohawks at Fort Hunter 
and to drive them out of the valley, it was found that 
there were but four families left. These were ordered 
to leave, but owing to the entreaties of the white 
settlers their houses were not burned.) 

Upon Brant's return to Oghwaga he received 
reinforcements and his attitude was so threatening 
that it was determined by General Schuyler that 
General Herkimer should confer with the Mohawk 
chief, with whom he had been on friendly terms when 
they had been neighbors beside the Mohawk River. 
Accordingly he sent a messenger inviting the Mohawk 
chief to meet him at Unadilla — the General moving 
forward himself at the same time at the head of about 
three hundred of the local militia. There Herkimer 
remained for eight days, or until the 27th of June, 
before Thayendanega arrived with five hundred war- 
riors, who were established in camp about two miles 







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General Herkimer and Joseph Brant 75 

south of Unadilla. From this camp he despatched a 
runner to General Herkimer, with a message, desiring 
to be informed of the object of his visit. General 
Herkimer repHed that he had merely come to see 
and converse with his brother. Captain Brant. The 
quick-witted messenger inquired if all those men 
wished to talk with the chief, too. But an aiTange- 
ment was soon made by which a meeting was affected. 

The following particulars relating to the interview 
are told by J. R. Simms, he having obtained them 
from Joseph Wagner of Fort Plain: At the first 
meeting of General Herkimer and Brant, the latter 
was attended by three other chiefs, William Johnson 
(alias Teg-che-un-to, a son of Sir William, by his 
first Indian wife, Caroline), who was afterward killed 
by the half-breed Spencer at Oriskany ; Pool, a smart- 
looking fellow with curly hair, supposed part Indian 
and part negro, and a short dark-skinned Indian, the 
four being siirroimded by about twenty noble-looking 
warriors. 

When in his presence. Brant haughtily asked Gen- 
eral Herkimer the object of his visit, which was read- 
ily made known, but seeing so many attendants the 
chief suspected the interview was sought for another 
purpose. Said Brant to Herkimer: "I have five 
hundred warriors at my command, and can in an 
instant destroy you and your party; but we are old 
friends and neighbors and I will not do it. " Colonel 
Cox, a smart officer (afterward killed at the battle of 
Oriskany), who accompanied General Herkimer, 
exchanged several sarcastic expressions with Brant, 
which served not a little to irritate him and his 



76 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

followers. The two had quarrelled a few years previ- 
ous about lands around the upper Indian castle. 
Provoked to anger Brant asked Cox if he was not the 
son-in-law of "old George Klock. " "Yes!" replied 
Cox, "what is that to you, you d — d Indian?" At 
the close of this dialogue Brant's guard ran off to 
their camp, firing several guns and making the forests 
ring with savage war cries. General Herkimer in the 
meantime endeavored to calm the storm which the 
impetuous Colonel had raised by his intemperate 
words, and succeeded in soothing the chief and his 
warriors and in keeping the irate Indians at a proper 
distance. A word from Brant hushed the tempest 
of passion, which an instant before threatened to 
deluge the valley in blood. However, as the parties 
were too heated for calm discussion, Brant said to the 
General: "It is needless to multiply words at this 
time; I will meet you here at nine o'clock to-morrow 
morning," and tiiming abruptly quickly joined his 
warriors. 

It is presumed that General Herkimer, owing to 
the fierce looks of the turbulent warriors, feared 
treachery on the part of Brant at the coming inter- 
view, for early on the following morning he called 
Joseph Wagner, then an active young soldier, to his 
side and asked him if he could keep a secret. When 
assured in the affirmative, he instructed Wagner to 
select three trusty comrades, who with himself should 
be in readiness at a given signal to shoot Brant and 
the three chiefs, if the interview about to take place 
did not end amicably. 

With this arrangement of precaution on the part 



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General Herkimer and Joseph Brant "j^ 

of General Herkimer, the parties held their interview 
on the 2Sth of June. Brant was the first to speak. 
Said he: "General Herkimer, I now fully compre- 
hend the object of 3^our visit, but you are too late ; 
I am alread}^ engaged to serve the King. We are old 
friends and I can do no less than let you return home 
unmolested, although you are entirely within my 
power, as I have five hundred warriors with me 
armed and ready for battle. ' ' Sa3dng which, at a sig- 
nal a host of his anned warriors darted forth from the 
contiguous forest all painted and ready for battle as 
the well-known war-whoop but too clearly proclaimed. 
He then requested that the Rev. Mr. Stuart, the 
missionary of Queen Anne's Chapel at Fort Hunter, 
and the wife of Colonel Butler, living at the same 
place, be permitted to retire to Canada. To these 
requests the General assented, and, after presenting 
Brant ten or twelve heads of cattle, he struck camp 
and retraced his steps to the valley of the Mohawk, 
while Brant turned proudly away and disappeared 
in the depths of the forest, little knowing by what a 
slender thread hung his life as he gave the signal 
for the spectacular display of his painted warriors. 
W. L. Stone says: 

Thus terminated this most singular conference. It was 
early in July, and the morning was remarkably clear and 
beautiful. But the echo of the war-whoop had scarcely 
died away before the heavens became black, and a violent 
storm obliged each party to seek the nearest shelter. Men 
less superstitious than many of the unlettered yeomen who, 
leaning upon their arms, were witnesses of the events of this 
day could not fail in after times to look back upon the tempest, 
if not as an omen, at least as an emblem of those bloody 



78 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

massacres with which these Indians and their associates 
afterward visited the inhabitants of this unfortunate frontier. 



This was the last conference held with the hos- 
tile Mohawks. Previous to this time a feeling of un- 
certainty and great unrest, as to the course of the 
Mohawks, pervaded the valley. A few families of 
Indians still remained at Fort Hunter and at the 
upper castle — at Danube, — who professed neutrality. 
At Fort Hunter dwelt Little Abraham, while at Indian 
Castle Molly Brant was living at the home of her 
brother. 

After the conference between General Herkimer 
and Joseph Brant recorded above. Brant left the 
Mohawk Valley and proceeded to Oswego with his 
warriors, having been summoned to attend a general 
grand council of the Six Nations. At this assembly 
the chiefs were offered ample reward to enter the 
British service, but many of them were averse to 
joining in the war, as they considered themselves 
bound to neutrality by the recent treaty of Ger- 
man Flats and Albany. A protracted discussion 
ensued, which availed nothing to the commissioners 
until they appealed to the avarice of the Indians, 
saying: "The King is rich and powerful, both in 
money and subjects. His rum is as plentiful as the 
waters of Lake Ontario and his men as numerous 
as the sands upon its shore, and if you will assist 
the British in the war you will never want for 
goods or money." Overcome by a rich display of 
tawdry articles calculated to please their fancies 
the Indians proved recreant to their treaty with Gen- 



General Herkimer and Joseph Brant 79 

eral Schuyler and concluded an alliance with Great 
Britain, binding themselves to take up the hatchet 
against the rebels until they were subdued. 

At the close of the treaty, each Indian was given a 
suit of clothes, a brass kettle, a gun, a tomahawk and 
scalping knife, a quantity of ammunition, a piece of 
gold, and the promise of a bounty for every scalp 
they should bring in (eight dollars for adults and 
a smaller sum for children). From that day Thay- 
endanega was the acknowledged head of the Six 
Nations, and joining Colonel Bird at Oswego, with 
his command, proceeded to the investment of Fort 
Schuyler, which led to the subsequent siege and the 
attendant bloody ambuscade of Oriskany. 

At this time from her temporary home at Canajo- 
harie, or Indian Castle, Molly Brant sent a message 
to Brant by an Indian runner warning him that a 
body of nearly a thousand militia under Herkimer 
was on the march to relieve the garrison of said fort. 

There can be no doubt but what his sister Molly 
kept him posted in regard to affairs in the valley and 
furnished him much valuable information previous 
to her forcible removal from thence. 

During the siege of Fort Schuyler, the Indians with 
St. Leger took occasion to chastise the Oneidas, who 
had refused to unite with them. After the battle of 
Oriskany, Brant and a party of his warriors fell upon 
the old Oneida castle, burned the wigwams, destroyed 
the crops and drove away the cattle of his former 
confederates. No sooner had he retreated, however, 
than the Oneidas retaliated. The residence of Molly 
Brant, at the upper Mohawk castle (Danube), was 



8o The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

ravaged, herself and family driven from home, and 
her cash, clothing and cattle taken. From thence 
the avengers visited the lower castle, and drove the 
followers of Little Abraham, one hundred in number, 
to refuge in Montreal, laying waste their plantations. 
Molly fled to Onondaga, and besought vengeance for 
the indignities which she had suffered, but to her 
possessions she was never restored: the indignant 
Oneidas had blotted out forever the seats of power 
from whence her tribe had swayed the destinies of a 
once powerful people. 



Auburey — Batten Kill, N. Y.: "The Mohawk Nation," says 
Auburey, " which are called Sir WilHam Johnson's Indians, 
as having their villages near his plantations, and who in his 
life time was constantly among them, were driven from their 
villages by the Americans and have joined our army [British]. 
They have come with their squaws, children, cattle, horses, 
and sheep, and are encamped at the creek from whence this 
place takes its name [Batten Kill]. 

" When the army cross the river, the squaws and children 
are to go to Canada. Brant and his warriors are said to have 
been with them." Like the other Indians, the Mohawks soon 
became impatient under the restriction imposed upon their 
movements by the presence of so large an army, and they 
deserted Burgoyne some time before the catastrophe of 
Saratoga. Molly Brant was probably with them also. 




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CHAPTER VII 

RESUME OF HISTORY OF THE WAR IN THE VALLEY — 

THE GLEN-SANDERS HOUSE — OLD DOCUMENTS 

THE DIARY OF WILLIAM COLBRAITH — THE KILLING 
OF THE MAIDENS — THE FIRST RAISING OT? THE 
STARS AND STRIPES OVER AN AMERICAN FORT — 
COLONEL WILLETT's SORTIE — THE DEFEAT OF ST. 
LEGER 

IN a former volume, The Mohawk Valley, Its 
Legends and Its History considerable prominence 
is given to the battle of Oriskany and the siege of Fort 
Schuyler, together with the sortie of Colonel Willett, 
which restilted in the destruction of the camps of the 
Indians and the dispersion of Sir John Johnson's 
body-guards. Herewith will be found a diary of Wil- 
liam Colbraith, a soldier of the garrison, which sheds 
additional light on the siege and interesting informa- 
tion not hitherto published. 

At the beginning of the Revolution Montgomery 
County (called Try on County from 1772 to 1784) 
was without limit, reaching westward through the 
wilderness as far as the territory of New York prov- 
ince extended. 

The Mohawk Valley, the home of the Agniers or 
Mohawks, early became the route of Indian traders to 
Lake Ontario and the wilderness of the great West, as 

81 



82 The StOPv" of Old Fort Johnson 

the Mohawk River w^as na\-igable to the birchen ca- 
noes of tlie Indians and the bviteaiix of the white men. 
In 1 75S a stockade fort was built at Utica and n;iined 
Fort Schuyler, for Cd. Peter Schuyler. It is said to 
have stood between Mohawk and Main streets below 
Secvmd Street, Ther^ w-as no settlement at Utiai at 
that time; in fact, it is said that there were but three 
Ic^ huts at this place in 1 7S7. The fort at Utica was 
allowed to decay after the French war, and was not 
in existence in 177 7. 

The city of Rome, at the head of the boat na\-iga- 
tion, early became an important point with the Indi:in 
traders or merchants, and was known as the carT\~ing 
place from the Mohawk River to Wood Crx?ek, a mile 
away. Goods were transferred from the Mohawk 
River to Wv.xxl Creek, do'v\^l which Kxits w*^ere poled or 
paddled to Oneida Lake, through the lake to Oswego 
River, and thence to Lake Ontario. 

In 1725 a fort w*:\s built midway between the Mo- 
hawk and Wood Cn?ek and named Fort Bull, and on 
the Mohawk, east of the present site of Rome, Fort 
Williams was erected. Fort Bull was destn:>>'ed 
March 27. 1756. by a party of Frendi and Indians 
imder M. DeLer\-, and the same year Fort Williams 
was destroyed by General Webb, he deeming it imten- 
able. During the Re\-olution a fortification called 
Fort Newport w.^s erected on Wood Creek near the 
carr\"ing place. 

Fort Stanwix, at Rome, X. Y.. recei%'ed its name 
from Brigadier-GenenU John Stanwix. who begi\n the 
construction of this fort July 23,1758. It was located 
near the south Ixmk of the ri\-er. about thirtv n>is 



Resume of War in the Willey S3 

distant. It is s;iid to have been a square work of 
earth and timber \\4th bastions at each eonier, sur- 
rounded by a ditcli and niomited with heavy cannon. 

This fort was iilso allowed to deai\-. so that when 
Colonel DaN'ton tc.x>k ^x:>ssession of it in 1770 it is s:iid 
to have been untenable. Colonel Dayton was charged 
with repairing Fort Stanwix. and renanuxl it Fort 
Scliuyler. for General Philip Schuyler. He did not, 
however, make much headway in putting it in a de- 
fensible condition, as we leani that Colonel Ganse- 
vcxMi when he took command of the fort, in the 
spring of 1777, was oblige<.l to use strenuous measures 
to strengthen its defences. However, it proved to 
be equal to the emei-gency of resisting the attack of 
St. Leger, as that general sa\'s. in his rei-Xirt of the 
subsev^uent siege: "It was found that oiu* cannon had 
not the least effect on tlie scxlwork of the fort, and 
that oiu- royals had only the j^xnver of teasing, as a 
six-inch plank was a sutVicient security for their j^K)w- 
der magazine, as we learned from the deserters. *' 

The story of tlie siege of Fort Schuyler has been so 
often told that I will not, at this time, do any more 
than outline the situation of military affairs in this 
part of the State in the early years of the Revolution. 
In 1777 "Bui-goyne's plan" had been inaugiu'ated and 
the campaign was in full swing. This plan, j'ou will 
remember, was arranged in London and comprised an 
ad\'ance of troops under General Howe up the Hud- 
son, Biu^opie's advance up the Champlain Willey and 
down the upper Hudson, while St. Leger was to pro- 
ceed ivom Three Rivei-s in Canada to Osw^o with a 
bod\- of English and Canadian troops under Sir Jolin 



84 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

Johnson and Colonel John Butler and a horde of Cana- 
dian Indians under Joseph Brant, the whole force 
being under comniand of Colonel Barry St. Leger. 
It was planned that St. Leger should proceed from 
Oswego to Rome, destroy or capture Fort Schuyler, 
and then march through the Mohawk Valley, caiT3^ing 
death and destruction in his train, while Burgoyne 
and Howe should clear the valleys of Champlain and 
Hudson, the rendezvous of all three expeditions to be 
Albany , which they were all expected to reach simulta- 
neously. How General Howe failed to ascend the 
Hudson, how Burgoyne's advance was checked at 
Bennington and his army captured at Saratoga, is 
well known to history ; but early records of this cam- 
paign do not seem to recognize the importance of the 
battle of Oriskany, in clearing Tryon County and the 
balance of New York State, west of the Hudson 
River, of the British troops. Many of the old accoimts 
of the battle characterize it as an ignominious defeat, 
ending with a cowardly retreat of the Americans, when 
it was, in fact, one of the most heroic, stubborn and 
decisive battles of the Revolution. It is true that Gen- 
eral Herkimer was defeated in his attempt to march 
his troops to Fort Schuyler and to assist Colonel 
Gansevoort in the siege of the fort, but he fought his 
troops coolly and courageously under the most dis- 
advantageous circumstances, and finally compelled 
the British and their hired allies, the Indians, to re- 
treat and leave the battle-field to the nearly exter- 
minated band of patriots and their fatally woimded 
general. 
It will be remembered that before General Herkimer 




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Resume of War in the Valley 85 

advanced from Fort Dayton (Herkimer) he sent 
Adam Helmer and two other trusty men through the 
wilderness, and at the risk of their lives, to inform 
Colonel Gansevoort of his advance with eight hun- 
dred soldiers, and requesting the commandant to 
give three cannon shots when the three scouts should 
arrive at the fort ; and also requested Colonel Ganse- 
voort to make a sortie of troops in order to divert the 
attention of the besiegers from the advance of Gen- 
eral Herkimer and his eager and impetuous but un- 
disciplined soldiers. 

I have deemed it best to write this summary of the 
situation of affairs in the Mohawk Valley during 
August, 1777, in order to place before you some new 
material in regard to the siege of the fort. 

On the north bank of the Mohawk River, opposite 
the city of Schenectady, is the little village of Scotia ; 
so named by one of the first settlers in the vicinity 
of Schenectady, who was called, by his Dutch neigh- 
bors, Sanders Leendertse Glen, but whose Scotch 
name was Alexander Lindsey Glen. He came to this 
country by the way of Holland in 1633 and some 
years later (about 1658) settled on land at Scotia. 

A few rods west of the toll bridge that spans the 
Mohawk at Schenectady stands the old Glen-Sanders 
house, so called in later years on account of the inter- 
marriage of the two families. It is said that a sister 
of Alexander Glen married a man by the name of 
Sanders, and that the present owners of the old house, 
husband and wife, are both lineal descendants from the 
father of Alex. Leendertse Glen, the families again be- 
ing brought together after nearly three centuries. It 



86 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

is said that a house was erected on the north bank 
of the Mohawk near the site of the present building 
by Glen, the first settler, about 1660. A half -century 
later, or, to be more exact, in 17 13, the river having 
encroached upon the old structure to such an extent 
as to render it unsafe for occupancy, a new dwelling 
was erected on higher ground, much of the older 
building being used in its construction, which can 
be seen at the present day, in many of the doors and 
casings. The family, proud of their ancestors and 
the antiquity of their surroundings, have preserved 
their home and its antique furniture, together with 
old letters and legal documents, so that to-day it is 
a storehouse of treasures of historic value; its large 
collection of old china and quaint furniture making 
it a most interesting museum to antiquaries of the 
historic Mohawk Valley, The writer, at a recent 
visit, was shown no less than five parchment com- 
missions, to members of the Glen family, alternately 
bearing the signatures of the colonial governors, 
Lords Bellamont, Sloughter, Fletcher, Dongan, and 
Hunter, and one signed by Morris. Many of the 
documents which have been preserved have lain 
perdu in old chests without examination for many 
years. 

One of these chests has recently undergone inspec- 
tion, which has brought to light the commissions 
spoken of above, together with a very interesting 
paper which proves to be a diary of a soldier of 
Colonel Gansevoort's regiment, having been kept by 
a member of the detachment of Major Cochran, sent 
to reinforce Colonel Elmore at Fort Schuyler April 1 7, 



Glen-Sanders House 87 

1777, and bears a striking resemblance to Colonel 
Willett's report to Governor Trumbull after the 
termination of the siege, with many interesting 
particulars of life within the fort not mentioned by 
Willett in his report. It covers the period between 
April 17, 1777, when Colonel Gansevoort's troops 
relieved Colonel Elmore, and August 23d of the 
same year, the day General Benedict Arnold entered 
the fort after the hurried retreat of St. Leger's 
troops. 

It also gives the date (August 3, 1777) when the 
first American flag, of the regulation Stars and 
Stripes, was raised above an American fort, having 
been made by the inhabitants of the fort from a blue 
cloak, a red flannel skirt, and strips of white cotton. 

The manuscript begins as follows : 

1777 — ^Journal of the most material occurrences preceding 
the siege of Fort Schuyler (formerly Fort Stanwix) with an 
account of that siege, etc. 

April 17th. — A detachment of Colonel Gansevoort's regi- 
ment, under command of Major Cochran, arrived to reinforce 
Colonel Elmore, who was stationed there. 

May 3d. — Colonel Gansevoort arrived and took command 
of the garrison agreeable to instructions. 

May loth. — Colonel Elmore's regiment march for Albany. 

May 28th. — The remainder of the regiment under the 
command of Colonel Willett arrived here from Fort Con- 
stitution, who informed Colonel Gansevoort that by order of 
Major Gen. Gates he had relieved Fort Dayton, (then in 
charge of Lieutenant Colonel Livingston), with one captain, 
two subalterns, two sergeants, one drum and fife and forty 
rank and file of his detachment. Some Oneida Indians 
arrived here with a flag from Canada, who informed the 
Colonel that they had been to Caughnawaga to request them 



SS The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

not to take up the hatchet in favor of Great Britain and gave 
him assurance of that tribe being much incHned to keep the 
peace, that had for so long a time subsisted between them and 
their American brethren, and that some of the sachems 
would be here in eight days on their way for Albany to treat 
on this subject. And also, as they were going to Canada they 
met the enemy on their march from thence to Oswego, being 
destined for this place, and after the treaty was over, which 
Sir John Johnson was to hold with the Indians in that country 
at Oswego, we might hourly expect them. 

June 25th. — Capt. Grigg, with Corporal Maddeson of his 
company, being between the Forts Newport and Bull, about 1 1 
miles from Fort Schuyler, were attacked by a party of Indians 
who wounded and tomahawked them and scalped them. 
The captain was alive when found, but the corporal dead. 

July 3d. — Ensign Sporr, being in command of seven men 
cutting sods for the fort at Fort NeY/;jort, were attacked by a 
party of Indians, who killed end scalped one, wounded and 
scalped another, and took the ensign and four men prisoners. 

July 19th. — Capt. Grigg, being much recovered of his 
wounds, set ofiE for Albany. 

July 19th. — Same day arrived Captain Swartwout, Lieu- 
tenants Diefendorf, Ball, Welch, McClellan, Bowen, Ostrander 
and Colbreath and Ensign Denniston, with a number of re- 
cruits for the regiment. 

July 26th. — The sachems of Caughnawaga arrived here 
with a flag agreeable to the intelligence received from the 
Oneida Indians. A party of one hundred of the garrison 
went to guard a number of the militia sent to obstruct Wood 
creek by falling trees from either side into the creek. 

July 27th. — Three girls belonging to the inhabitants being 
about two hundred yards from our out-sentinels were fired 
on by a party of Indians, two of whom were killed and scalped, 
the other wounded in two places, neither of them dangerous. 
The party returned who had been to stop the creek. 

July 28th. — ^The Colonel sent off those women which be- 
longed to the garrison which have children, with whom went 




Col. Barry St. Lcger. 
From an old print. 



Colbraith's Journal 89 

the man that was scalped, the girl that was wounded yesterday 
and sick in the hospital. 

July 30th. — An Indian arrived express from the Oneida 
castle with a belt of wampum and a letter from the sachems 
of Caughnawaga and the Six Nations, in which letter they 
assured us they were determined to be at peace with the 
American brethren ; that the enemy were at the Three Rivers 
and two detachments were to set off before the main body ; 
one body of eight would be sent to take prisoners, and another 
of 130 to cut off communication on the Mohawk river. Major 
Bedlam arrived with 150 men of Colonel Weston's regiment 
from Fort Dayton; with him came Captain Dewitt and his 
party who had been left at Fort Dayton by Colonel Willett, 
the whole making to the garrison a reinforcement of about 
200 men. Mr. Hansen, commissary of this garrison, arrived 
and acquainted us that seven bateaux, loaded with ammu- 
nition and provisions, were on their way for this place. The 
letter and belt was, agreeable to the request of the Indians, 
sent down by express to the several committees on the 
Mohawk river. 

Aug. I St. — ^Three Oneida Indians came express from their 
castle informing us that they had seen three strange Indians, 
who told them that there were 100 more at the Royal Block 
House, and that they were to march for this place. Supposing 
them to be a party sent to cut off communications, the 
Colonel detached 100 men under command of Captain Ben- 
schoten and three subalterns to meet the bateaux that were 
hourly expected, in order to reinforce the guard sent with 
them from Fort Dayton. 

Aug. 2d. — Four bateaux arrived, being those the party 
went to meet, having a guard of 100 men of Colonel Weston's 
regiment from Fort Dayton, under the command of Lieut. 
Col. Mellon of that regiment. The lading being brought 
safe into the fort, guard marched in, when our sentinels on 
the southwest bastion discovered the enemy's fires in the 
woods near Fort Newport, upon which the troops ran to their 
respective alarm posts ; at this time we discovered some men 



90 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

running from the landing toward the garrison. On their 
coming they informed us that the bateaux men who had 
staid behind when the guard marched into the fort had been 
fired on by the enemy at the landing, that two of them were 
wounded, the master of the bateaux taken prisoner, and one 
man missing. 

I Aug. 3d. — Early this morning a Continental flag, made by 
the ofiP-cers of Colonel Gansevoort's regiment, was hoisted 
and a cannon leveled at the enemy's camp was fired on the 
occasion. A small party was sent to the landing to see if 
the enemy had destroyed any of our bateaux last night. 
This party found the bateaux man that was missing, wounded 
through the brain, stabbed in the right breast and scalped. 
He was alive when found and brought to the garrison, but 
died shortly after. The bateaux lay at the landing no ways 
damaged. About 3 o'clock this afternoon the enemy showed 
themselves to the garrison on all sides, carried off some hay 
from a field near the garrison, at which a flag brought by 
Captain Tice came into the fort with a proffer of protection 
if the garrison would surrender, which was rejected with 
disdain. 

Aug. 4th. — A continual firing of small arms was this day 
kept up by the enemy's Indians, who advanced within gun- 
shot of the fort, in small parties under cover of bushes, weeds 
and potatoes in the garden. Colonel Mellon and his party 
of 100 men, who came from Fort Dayton as a guard to the 
bateaux, was to have returned this day, but we were now 
besieged and all communication cut off for the present. 
The firing ended with the close of the day, we having one man 
killed and six wounded. This night we sent out a party and 
brought 27 stacks of hay into the trench and set a barn and 
house on fire belonging to Mr. Roof. 

Aug. 5th. — A continual firing was kept up by the savages. 
One of our men was shot dead on the northeast bastion. 
The enemy set fire to the new barracks standing about 100 
yards from this fort, between four and five o'clock this 
afternoon. 



Colbraith's Journal 91 

Aug, 6th. — This morning the Indians were seen going off 
from around the garrison towards the landing; as they 
withdrew we had not much firing. Being uneasy lest the 
Tories should report that the enemy had taken the fort, 
Lieut. Diefendorf was ordered to get ready to set off for 
Albany this evening to inform General Schuyler of our situ- 
ation, but between nine and ten this morning three militia 
men arrived here with a letter from General Harkeman 
wherein he writes that he had arrived at Orisco with i,ooo 
militia, in order to relieve the garrison and open commu- 
nication, which was then entirely blocked up, and that if the 
colonel should hear a firing of small arms, desired he would 
send a party from the garrison to reinforce him. General 
Harkeman desired that the colonel would fire three cannon, if 
the three men got safe into the fort with his letter, which was 
done and followed by three cheers by the whole garrison. 
According to General Harkeman 's request the colonel de- 
tached two hundred men and one field piece under command 
of Lieut. Col. Willett with orders to proceed down the road 
to meet the General's party; having marched half a mile, 
they came upon an encampment of the enemy which they 
totally routed, and plundered them of as much baggage as 
the soldiers could carry. Their loss is supposed to be between 
fifteen and twenty killed. The number of wounded, who 
got off, is unknown. They took four prisoners, three of whom 
\vere wounded, and Mr. Singleton of Montreal, who says he is 
a lieutenant, without the loss of one man killed or wounded. 
Our party returned immediately and brought in a num- 
ber of blankets, brass kettles, powder and ball, a variety of 
clothes and Indian trinkets and hard cash, together with four 
scalps the Indians had lately taken, being entirely fresh and 
left in their camp. Two of the scalps taken are supposed to be 
those of the girls, being neatly dressed and the hair plaited. 
A bundle of letters was found in the enemy's camp, which 
had been sent by one Luke Cassidy for this garrison, who it 
is supposed is either killed or taken; the letters were not 
broke open. Four colours were also taken, and immediately 



92 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

hoisted on our flagstaff under the Continental flag, as trophies 
of victory. By our prisoners we learn that the enemy are 
I2IO strong, 250 British regulars, that they are all ar- 
rived and have with them two six pounders, two three 
pounders and four royals. We also learn that they were 
attacked by our militia on this side of Orisco, that they drove 
the militia back, killed some and took several prisoners, but 
the enemy had many killed, and among them one Stephen 
Watts of New York. Our party found among the enemy a 
Tory named Harkeman, brother to the General. He belonged 
to the German Flats. One of General Harkeman's militia 
came in here this evening and gave an account of the militia 
being drove back by the enemy, that in the battle he hid 
himself in the mud and grass, and that General Harkeman 
and a number of regular officers and Indians passed him in 
conversation. (This was a lie.) One of the prisoners we 
took to-day died of his wounds this evening. 

Aug, 7th. — ^Very little firing to-day. At 11 o'clock this 
evening the enemy came near the fort, called to our sentinels, 
telling them to come out again with fixed bayonets, and they 
would give us satisfaction for yesterday's work; after which 
they fired four small cannon at the fort. We laughed at 
them and they returned to rest. The four militia men who 
came in yesterday went off about 12 o'clock this night. Two 
men deserted from us to the enemy this night. 

Aug. 8th. — The enemy threw some shells at us to-day, 
but did no damage, and in order to return the compliment, 
they were saluted with a few balls from our cannon. About 
5 o'clock this evening Colonel Butler, with a British captain 
and a doctor from the enemy, came to the garrison with a 
flag, whose message from Gen. St. Leger was that the Indians, 
having lost some of their chiefs in a skirmish with our party 
that sallied out on the 6th inst., were determined to go down 
the Mohawk River and destroy the women and children, also 
that they would kill ever}'- man in the garrison when they 
got in; that Gen. St. Leger had held a council with them for 
two days in order to prevent them, but all to no purpose. 



Colbraith's Journal 93 

■unless we would surrender. The general therefore, as an 
act of humanity, and to prevent the effusion of blood, begged 
we would deliver up the fort, and promised if we did, not a 
hair of our heads should be hurt. A letter also camo by them 
(as they say) from Mr. Fry and Colonel Bellinger, whom they 
took in the fray with the militia, begging us to surrender, 
telling us our communication was cut off, that the enemy had 
a large parcel of fine troops, and an excellent park of artillery, 
and further, that they expected General Burgoyne was in 
Albany, and could see no hopes of our having any succor, 
as the militia had many killed and taken. The answer to 
the general's tender and compassioned (?) letter was deferred 
until to-morrow morning at 9 o'clock, and a cescation of arms 
agreed to by both parties till then. Late this evening a 
party was sent to get water for the ganison, with a guard. 
One of the guards deserted from us, but left his firelock 
behind. One of our sentinels fired at him but missed him. 
Our guard heard the enemy's sentinels challenge him twice 
and fire on him. Colonel Willett and Lieutenant Stockwell 
went out of the garrison at one o'clock in the morning on a 
secret expedition. 

Aug. 9th. — Agreeable to the proposals of yesterday, between 
Colonel Gansevoort and Brigadier General St. Leger, a flag 
was sent out to him requesting him to send his demand in 
writing and the Colonel would send him an answer, which 
request he agreed to. The demands in writing was the same 
in substance with that verbally delivered yesterday by 
Colonel Butler, to which the Colonel returned for answer: 
That he was determined to defend the fort in favor of the 
United States to the last extremity. Upon receiving the 
answer hostilities agrin commenced by a number of shot and 
small arms on their side which were not suffered with impunity 
on ours. This day the Colonel ordered all the provisions 
to be brought upon the parade for fear of shells setting fire 
to the barracks and destroying it; also all the public papers 
and money in the hands of Mr. Hansen and the papers in the 
hands of Mr. Van Veghten belonging to the paymaster to be 



94 The Stor)^ of Old Fort Johnson 

lodged in the bomb-proof in the S. W. bastion. The enemy 
began to bombard us at half past ten this evening and con- 
tinued till daylight; their shells were very well directed. 
They killed one man and wounded another, both of our 
regiment. None killed or wounded through the day. This 
day the enemy kept out of sight, except one or two who 
appeared about their battery doing nothing. About three 
o'clock this afternoon three or four of them were seen running 
across a field near the garrison and setting fire to some cocks 
of hay standing there which soon consumed them. This 
manoeuver of the enemy led us to believe that the enemy's 
intention was to deceive us to imagine thereby that they 
were going off and put us ofE our guard and induce us to send 
out parties which they might fall on, and thereby diminish 
our strength, knowing us to be too many for them. Was 
this their scheme, they fell short of their conjecture. Some 
of our officers imagined they were going off or they would not 
destroy tho hay, it being out of our reach and much wanted 
by them for their troops to lay on, as it is certain they have 
nothing to shelter themselves from the weather except their 
blankets which they make tents of. 

Fearing they meant to lull us to sleep and storm us in the 
night, the Colonel ordered the guard and piquet doubled and 
the troops to lay on their arms. Between twelve and one 
o'clock to-night they bombard us and continued till daylight. 
This night's work did us no other damage than breaking the 
thigh of a young man, an inhabitant. This unfortunate 
5'oung man was brought up in the same family with one of 
the girls that was killed and scalped on the 27th, and whose 
scalps we have now in the fort. They were remarkably in- 
dustrious and faithful, both orphans and were by consent 
of their former master to have been married very soon. 
The young man died of his wound. 

Aug. nth. — This day the enemy having obser\'ed that we 
brought water from the creek altered its course so that it 
became dry. This would have done us much damage had 
we not been able to open two wells in the garrison which 



Colbraith's Journal 95 

with one we had already proved a sufficient supply. The 
enemy kept out of sight and no firing from them of any kind. 
They were seen b}- our sentinels drawing near the landing, 
by which we imagine a reinforcement is coming to our relief. 
At twelve o'clock a shower of rain coming up the Colonel 
ordered a fatigue party to turn out with a subaltern's guard 
to bring in some barrels of lime, a number of boards and some 
timber lying at the foot of the glacis. Which they effected 
without having a shot fired at them. The enemy was seen to 
muster in the road below the landing while our men were out. 
At sundown the}* gave us some shot and shells from their 
battery. At midnight they sent four shells, but a thunder 
shower coming up at that instant they left off. The night 
being very^ dark and excessive raining till day, the Colonel 
ordered the troops to their alarm posts lest the enemy should 
attempt to surprise. 

Aug. 12th. — The enemy kept out of sight all day and no 
firing from them till noon, vv'hen they gave us some shot and 
shells, without doing any damage. We imagined the enemy 
drew their forces in the daytime between us and Orisko, as 
we have not seen them so plenty these two or three days as 
we are used to do; neither do they trouble us all night, which 
gave our troops an opportunity of resting. 

Aug. 13th. — The enem}^ were very peaceable all day till 
towards night, when they cannonaded and bombarded for 
two hours, during which time a shell broke a soldier's leg 
belonging to Colonel Mellon's detachment. 

Aug. 14th. — Toward evening they were again at their old 
play, cannonading and bombarding us. A shell bursting 
slightly wounded one of Colonel Mellon's men in the head. 
No other damage was done. One of Captain Gregg's company, 
Colonel Gansevoort's regiment, deserted his post to the 
enemy. He was placed on the outside picket and deserted 
between ten and twelve o'clock at night. 

Aug. 15th. — At 5 o'clock this morning the enemy threw 
two shells at us. Did no damage. The number of shells they 
have thrown at us is 137. The enemy were very troublesome 



The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

with their small arms this afternoon, by which we had 
one man of our regiment and one of Colonel Mellon 's de- 
tachment slightly wounded. In the evening they threw their 
shells at us and slightly wounded a woman and one of Captain 
Savage's artillery-men. 

Aug. 1 6th. — This morning the enemy threw some shells 
horizontally at our works, but fell short. One of those shells 
falling on the parade killed a man of Colonel Mellon's detach- 
ment. They continued to throw them all day and some part 
of the night, but did no further damage. A party of our men 
were ordered out this evening to bring in wood for the garrison, 
and being discovered by some skulking Indians near the 
garrison gave the alarm to the rest. They advanced near 
where our men were at work, but luckily our men had been 
called in before they came nigh enough to do any mischief. 
They finding our men had got in began a most hideous shout. 
A cannon being fired at them they departed. The regulars' 
drums were heard beating to arms after the cannon was fired. 
"We suppose they expected us to sally out again upon them 
with a field-piece. At midnight they threw three shells at 
us, but did no damage. 

Aug. 17th. — The enemy were quiet all day and night; 
neither a shot or shell was fired at us during the twenty-four 
hours, although we fired several cannon at them. 

Aug. 1 8th. — This morning one of our regiment was slightly 
wounded in the cheek by a musquet ball. A black flag or 
coat was seen in enemy's bomb battery. 

Aucr. 19th. — The enemy threw some shells at us near noon. 
They were busy in their trench all day. At night they struck 
their trench towards the point of our northwest bastion, and 
by daylight had got within 150 yards of the ditch. We fired 
some grape shot at them now and then all night. At every 
shot we fired they threw shells at us but did no damage. 
At midnight the colonel sent out one of his regiment and one 
of Colonel Mellon's detachment to meet Colonel Willett if 
possible, whom we expected was on his way to this place 
with a reinforcement, to make him acquainted with the 



Colbraith's Journal 97 

enemy's maneuvers on the southwest side of the fort, that 
he might govern the attack accordingly. 

Aug. 20th. — This morning one of Colonel Mellon's men 
was wounded by a musquet ball. The enemy could work 
but little this day at their trench, it being so nigh that our 
small arms, as well as our cannon shot, was too hot for them. 
In the evening they began their trench again and worked all 
night at it, under fire of our cannon and small arms, but did 
not approach any nearer. 

Aug. 2 1 St. — At two o'clock this morning a party was sent 
out to bring in firewood, who brought in a great quantity 
undiscovered. They cannonaded and bombarded by turns 
all night. A man of our regiment deserted this evening. 
This morning we discovered that the enemy approach nearer 
to us and had begun a bomb battery, where they left oflE 
yesterday morning. The artillery-man who was wounded 
in the knee with a musquet ball died on the 4th inst. of his 
wounds. One of Colonel Mellon's men and the lad belonging 
to the inhabitants died likewise of their wounds. The enemy 
kept working all day in their trench though not so close as 
last night. No firing from their batteries. This day our 
guard kept a constant fire at those at work in the trench, and 
in the evening twelve of the best marksmen were picked out 
to harass them when at work in the night, which galled them 
so much that their Indians were sent for to draw off our atten- 
tion, who advanced near the fort, which caused a general 
alarm, by which a heavy and continued firing was kept up 
for near two hours, during which their cannon and mortars 
were playing on us very briskly, in which interim we had a 
man of the artillery wounded and a woman big with child 
wounded in the thigh. A corporal and three privates de- 
serted this evening of our regiment. 

Aug. 2 2d. — This morning the enemy bombarded very 
smartly. The sergeant-major and two privates were wounded. 
At noon a deserter came to us, whose examination was: 
that the enemy had news in the camp that Burgoyne's army 
was entirely routed and that three thousand men were coming 

7 



9^ The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

up to reinforce us, and further that the enemy was retreating 
with great precipitation, and that he with another was con- 
veying off one Lieut. Anderson's chest, when he had made 
his escape, and that most of the baggage was gone. Upon 
which the commanding officer ordered all the cannon bearing 
on their works to fire several rounds each to see whether they 
would return it, which partly confirmed the report of the 
deserter. Some time after four men came in and reported 
the same, and that they had left part of their baggage. Upon 
which the colonel ordered fifty men and two wagons under 
command of Captain Jansen to go to their camps, where they 
killed two Indians and took four prisoners ; one of them was 
an Indian. After they had loaded the wagons with what 
baggage they could carry, they returned, but night coming 
on, they could not return to fetch what baggage was still left 
in their camp. At night, two men came in: one of them was 
assisting the first deserter in carrying off Lieutenant Ander- 
son's chest, the other John (Han) Yost Schuyler, who in- 
formed the commanding officer that he was taken prisoner 
at the German Flats and confined at Fort Dayton five days. 
That General Arnold had sent him to General St. Leger, 
commander of the King's troop, to inform him that 2,000 
Continentals with two field-pieces and a great number of 
militia were on the march for this place to reinforce the 
garrison, that he had informed General St. Leger of it and 
in consequence of which he ordered his troops to strike their 
tents and pack up. And further, after he had done his 
errand, he hid himself in the woods till night, and coming 
across the above men they came in together. He likewise in- 
formed us that near seventeen Indians were at Fort Newport 
quite drunk ; upon which the colonel ordered a party of men 
under the command of Major Cochran to go and take them, 
who in about an hour returned and informed the colonel 
he had been there and did not find any, and that he went to 
Wood creek and found eight new bateaux, which the enemy 
had left behind. While they were out, the woman that was 
wounded with a shell last night was brought to bed in our 




5 



O 






Colbraith's Journal 99 

southwest bomb-proof, of a daughter. She and the child are 
like to do well, with the blessing of God. Our blockade 
ended, and the garrison once more at liberty to walk about 
and take the free air we had for twenty-one days been de- 
prived of. At twelve o'clock this night the commanding 
officer sent off three of his regiment to inform General Arnold 
of the precipitate retreat of the enemy. A deserter came in 
who said he had just left the enemy's cohoms below Wood 
creek bridge. 

Aug. 23d. — This morning the colonel sent out a party under 
the command of Major Cochran to take them, who returned 
with three prisoners and four cohoms and some baggage, 
and reported there were seventeen bateaux lying there. 
Another party was sent to the enemy's north camp to bring 
in the rest of the baggage left by us last night, consisting of 
ammunition, camp equipage and entrenching tools. Another 
party was sent to the enemy's southeast camp, who brought 
in fifteen wagons, a three-pound field-piece carriage with all 
its apparatus. Most of the wagon wheels were cut to pieces, 
as were the wheels of the carriage. Several scouts were sent 
out to-day, one of whom took a German prisoner, who re- 
ported that the enemy's Indians had, when they got about 
ten miles from this fort, fallen on the scattering Tories, took 
their arms from, and stabbed them with their own bayonets. 
And that for fear of said Indians, he and nine more German 
soldiers had took to the woods. The rest are not yet found. 
Their design was not to come to the fort, as Butler and 
Johnson told them, when orders were given to retreat,- that 
those who fell into our hand would be hanged immediately. 
Another scout proceeded to Canada creek, found a carriage 
for a six-pounder and three boxes of cannon shot, which they 
brought in. This afternoon the Honorable Major General 
Arnold arrived here with near a thousand men. They were 
saluted with a discharge of powder from our mortars, formerly 
the enemy's, and all the cannon from the bastions, amounting 
in the whole to thirteen, attended with three cheers from 
the troops on the bastions. 



CHAPTER VIII 

CAPTURE OF WALTER BUTLER, HAN YOST SCHUYLER, 
AND OTHER TORIES — HAN YOST's MISSION TO 
ST. LEGER'S ARMY — FLIGHT OF THE INDIANS — 
TERROR OF THE TORIES — RETREAT OF ST. LEGER 

WHILE the amty of St. Leger was investing Fort 
Schuyler, successfully preventing reinforce- 
ments being thrown into the fort, although unable 
to force an entrance by more or less vigorous attacks, 
an effort was made to persuade the timid and dis- 
affected residents of the valle}?- to abandon the cause 
of the patriots and enroll themselves with the King's 
army in front of Fort Schuyler, by issuing an address 
signed by Johnson, Claus, and Butler. This docu- 
ment was sent by messengers throughout Tryon 
County, but it effected little else than to get the 
messengers themselves in trouble. 

About two miles above Fort Dayton (Herkimer) 
resided a Tory named Shoemaker. Having heard 
that a clandestine meeting of Tories was to take place 
at his house, Colonel Weston, the commandant at 
Fort Dayton, sent a detachment of troops thither. 
The night was dark and the soldiers were able to 
siuTound the house without being discovered, and 
cautiously concealed themselves until all of the 
bidden guests were assembled. Among those present 

1CX3 



Han Yost Schuyler loi 

were Lieutenant Walter N. Butler and his guard of 
soldiers and Indians who had accompanied him from 
St. Leger's camp for the purpose of distributing the 
inflammatory document, and a number of the 
disaffected of the county. So complete was the 
surprise of the attack that Butler was taken while 
making a speech and his comrades surrendered with- 
out bloodshed. 

General Arnold at this time was waiting at Fort 
Dayton for supplies and reinforcements, before 
marching to the relief of Fort Schuyler. At a court- 
martial that was immediately convened, with Colonel 
Willett as judge, Lieutenant Butler and some others 
were convicted as spies and sentenced to death. At 
the intercession of some American officers who had 
been college students with Butler, his life was sa^ ed 
by a reprieve and he was imprisoned at Albany in the 
common jail. Subsequently he escaped, to lead in 
the massacre at Cherry Valley. 

Among the Tories who were captured and sen- 
tenced to death was a half-witted fellow named 
Han Yost Schuyler. Having been associated with 
the Indians on the frontier by force of circumstance 
and inclination, he was regarded by the savages with 
the superstitious reverence which they have for 
simple-minded people. His mother, an old half -gypsy 
creature, and his brother Nicholas implored General 
Arnold to spare his life, but Arnold was obdurate. 
She implored passionately and becoming almost 
frantic in her grief, Arnold proposed terms on which 
he would grant Han Yost's pardon, his brother 
Nicholas to be held as hostage for the strict perform- 



I02 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

ance of the duties required. He (Han Yost) was to 
hurry to Fort Schuyler, and so alarm St. Leger's army 
that he would raise the siege. The half-fool at once 
accepted the conditions, and it was agreed that his 
brother Nicholas should forfeit his life if Han Yost 
should prove recreant or fail to accomplish the duties 
required of him. 

It was also agreed that Thomas Spencer, the Oneida 
half-breed who had already proved his loyalty and 
devotion to the cause of the patriots in many ways, 
should accompany him. 

Before they started on their mission the coat and 
cap of Han Yost were hung up and bullets shot 
through them, after which preparation, and without 
arms, they started by different routes towards the 
Indian camp of St. Leger's army. 

Ever since the battle of Oriskany the Indian war- 
riors had been morose and dissatisfied. They had been 
promised easy success and much plunder, but they 
had found neither the one nor the other. While 
they were in the midst of a great pow-wow of dancing, 
doleful music, and grotesque ceremonies, Han Yost 
suddenly appeared among them, breathless and with 
clothes disordered. As he was well known to them, 
the Indians crowded around him, eagerly questioning 
him for news from Fort Dayton and the army of 
General Arnold. He told them that the army was 
then approaching the fort. When asked, "How 
many men?" he pointed to the leaves of the forest. 
When asked how near they were, he showed the fresh 
bullet holes in his garments. The report spread 
throughout the camps with amazing rapidity and 



Han Yost Schuyler 103 

soon reached headquarters. St. Leger sent for Han 
Yost, who told the commander a straight and pitiful 
story ; how he had been captured with Walter Butler 
and others, had been tried and condemned; how on 
his way to his execution he had broken away from 
his guards and fled; how shots were fired at him, but 
he had escaped unharmed although he had had a very 
narrow escape, as the Colonel could see by his clothes. 
While this interview was being held Spencer arrived 
and confirmed the story of Han Yost that the Amer- 
icans were coming in great force. 

Other Oneidas, whom Spencer had seen and posted, 
followed at intervals from different routes with alarm- 
ing rumors. One said that Burgoyne's army was cut 
to pieces, another told St. Leger that Arnold had 
three thousand men near. The Indians, now thor- 
oughly alarmed, prepared to flee. St. Leger tried 
every means, by offers of bribes and promises, to in- 
duce them to remain, but the panic, and suspicion of 
foul play, had determined them to go. He tried to 
make them drunk, but they would not drink. He 
then besought them to take the rear of his army in 
retreating; this they refused and indignantly said, 
"You mean to sacrifice us. When you marched down 
you said there would be no fighting for us Indians; 
we might go down and smoke our pipes ; whereas num- 
bers of our warriors have been killed, and you mean to 
sacrifice us also. " And notwithstanding the entreat- 
ies of Brant, Johnson, and Colonel Claus the council 
broke up and the Indians fled. 

The panic was communicated to the rest of the 
camp and in a few hours the whole of St. Leger 's army 



104 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

was flying in terror toward its boats on Oneida Lake, 
Han Yost accompanied them in their flight as far as 
Wood Creek, where he managed to desert, and found 
his way back to Fort Schuyler that night and was the 
first to communicate to Colonel Gansevoort the in- 
telligence of Arnold's approach. The Indians, it is 
said, made themselves merry at the precipitate flight 
of the whites, who threw away their arms and knap- 
sacks so that nothing should impede their progress. 
The savages also gratified their passion for murder and 
plunder by killing many of the white soldiers on the 
borders of the lake and stripping them of every article 
of value. They also plundered them of their boats, 
and according to St. Leger "they became more for- 
midable than the enemy they had to expect." An- 
other account relates that St. Leger, while standing 
on the border of a swamp alone with Sir John Johnson, 
reproached the latter with being the cause of the 
disaffection of the Indians. High words and mutual 
recriminations followed. Two chiefs, standing ne r, 
overheard the quarrel, and put an end to it by shout- 
ing, " They are coming ! They are coming! " 

Both officers, terribly alarmed, plunged into the 
morass. This was a signal for the general retreat of 
the whole army. Such was their haste that they 
left their tents, baggage, and artillery behind, and 
the bombardier was left asleep in the bomb battery ! 
When he awoke he found himself alone, the sole 
representative of the besieging army. The Indians 
continued their cry, at intervals, "They are coming! 
They are coming! " behind the fleeing Tories, and 
thus amused themselves all the way to Oneida Lake. 



Han Yost Schuyler 105 

The retreat of St. Leger from Fort Schuyler and 
the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga brought joy 
and hope to the harassed settlers of the Mohawk Val- 
ley, and except for occasional raids of small bands 
of Indians along the frontier no further invasion of 
the British forces was attempted until the summer 
of 1778. 

This year was marked by a series of attacks on the 
frontier towns of New York and Pennsylvania. In 
January predatory excursions were made by large 
bands of Indians and Tories, who made their head- 
quarters at Oghwaga, and of more than a hundred 
families scattered along the Susquehanna River above 
Lackawanna not one remained. Then came the de- 
struction of Wyoming and its attendant massacre, 
followed in quick succession by the destruction of 
Cobleskill, Andrustown, German Flats, and Cherry- 
Valley, with tales of butchery, torture, and every 
phase of barbarous cruelty. 

An attempt had been made by Congress to secure 
the good-will of the warriors of the Six Nations, and 
to accomplish that purpose, if possible, a council of 
the Six Nations was called in February, 1778, to meet 
at Johnstown, N. Y. The Indians were so slow or 
reluctant in assembling that the council was not 
convened until the 9th of March. It is estimated 
that nearly seven hundred Indians were present, 
consisting of Oneidas, Tuscaroras, Onondagas, a few 
Mohawks, and three or four Cayugas, and not a single 
Seneca, which tribe was by far the most numerous 
of all the Iroquois nations. The delegation appointed 
by the Congress consisted of the Marquis de 



io6 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

Lafayette, Volkert T. Douw and James Duane. 
The result of the conference was very disappointing 
to the patriots. Colonel Stone says : 

While the impression at the time seemed to be that the 
Oneidas, Tuscaroras, and Onondagas would remain neutral 
and restrain their warriors from taking active part with the 
British, the commissioners left the council fully persuaded 
that from the Senecas, Cayugas, and the greater part of the 
Mohawks, nothing but revenge for their lost friends and 
tarnished glory at Oriskany and Fort Schuyler was to be 
expected. Before th? year closed it became evident that 
none but the Oneidas and Tuscaroras were favorable to the 
cause of the patriots, the Onondagas and Mohawks being as 
active in the cause of the British as the Senecas and Cayugas. 
The untiring zeal and energy of Rev. Mr. Kirkland, the 
missionary stationed among the Oneidas, and the persuasive 
power of Thomas Spencer, the Oneida half-breed, however, 
kept the Oneidas and Tuscaroras in line to the end of the war. 

During the winter of 1778-79 bands of savages, or 
Tories disguised as such, kept the inhabitants of the 
valley in constant fear and alarm, and military men 
became eager to inaugurate General Washington's 
plan of carrying the war into the enemy's country. 
It was known that in the Senecas' country, in the 
Genesee Valley, and around the lakes of central New 
York large crops of com and vegetables and orchards 
of apples, pears, and small fniits were raised, not alone 
for the Indians, but as supplies for the British army. 
It was for the purpose of the destruction of this fair 
country and the expulsion or extermination of the 
turbulent tribes that General Sullivan's expedition 
of 1779 was organized, laid waste the fields and vil- 
lages of the Senecas and Cayugas and drove the 



Sullivan's Expedition 107 

inhabitants back to the British frontier posts at 
Niagara and Oswego. 

In April, 1779 (which was previous to the organ- 
ization of General Sullivan's expedition), General 
Clinton despatched a portion of Colonel Ganse- 
voort's and Van Schaick's regiments to chastise 
the Onondagas. The party consisted of five hun- 
dred and fifty men under the command of Colonel 
Van Schaick, who was instructed to bum their cas- 
tles and villages, destroy their cattle and other prop- 
erty and make as many prisoners as possible. The 
expedition went down Wood Creek to Oneida Lake, 
thence up Oswego River to a point on Onondaga Lake, 
where Salina now stands. As a thick fog concealed 
their movements they were able to approach within 
four or five miles before they were discovered. As 
soon as the first village was attacked, the alarm 
spread to the others. Three villages, consisting of 
fifty houses, were destroyed, twelve Indians killed, 
and thirty-three were made prisoners. A large quan- 
tity of com and beans was consumed and all of the 
horses and cattle were slaughtered. The council- 
house was not burned, but the swivel therein was 
spiked and the ancient and, to them, sacred council 
fire extinguished. 

This expedition was cruel and of doubtful wis- 
dom, as it alarmed the neutral Oneidas who were 
faithful to the Americans, because, having inter- 
married among the Onondagas, some of their rela- 
tives had been either slain or impoverished. 

But the ire of the Onondagas was fiercely aroused, 
not alone on account of the destruction of property 



io8 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

and loss of life, but because the great council fire of 
the confederacy, of which they had been keepers 
from the organization of the confederacy, had again 
been extinguished. The fire, in historic times, had 
been put out by Count Frontenac in 1692, and again 
extinguished in 1777, and to avenge this, the third 
extinction, three hundred braves were immediately 
sent upon the war-path, harassing settlements on 
both sides of the river. Under the guidance of a Tory 
they descended upon the German settlement at 
Cobleskill, murdering, plundering, and burning. The 
militia turned out, but, being led into an ambuscade, 
a number of them were killed. They fought bravely 
and while they were contending with the Indians 
the people fled in safety to Schoharie. Seven of 
the soldiers took post in a strong house, which the 
Onondagas set on fire and the brave young fellows 
all perished in the flames. The settlement was 
burned, twenty- two patriots were killed, and forty- 
two were carried away captives. 

While the Indians were doing their deadly work 
in the vicinity of Cobleskill, another party fell upon 
the Canajoharie settlement, took three prisoners, 
captured some horses and drove the people into Fort 
Plain. On the same day another party attacked 
a small settlement at Stone Arabia, burned some 
houses, and killed several people. A party of Sene- 
cas also appeared at Schoharie and committed fur- 
ther depredations. 

The expedition of General Sullivan into the Senecas' 
country is, incidentally, of interest to the Mohawk 
Valley from the fact that the right division of his army 



Sullivan's Expedition 109 

under General James Clinton advanced up the Mo- 
hawk River with two hundred and ten bateaux and 
fifteen hundred troops, reaching Canajoharie June 16, 
1779, and on June 1 7 th commenced the arduous port- 
age of bateaux and stores to Otsego Lake, twenty 
miles over exceedingly bad roads. This he accom- 
plished in nine days' time, and on July ist passed 
down the lake to its foot, where Cooperstown now 
stands, and awaited orders. While thus detained 
scouts were sent out to examine the bed of the outlet 
of the lake, which constituted the head waters of the 
Susquehanna River, and found it a narrow, shallow 
stream half choked with logs and floodwood and not 
having enough water to float a birch bark Indian 
canoe. In order to facilitate the passage of loaded 
bateaux along this rippling forest stream, the troops 
were ordered to build a substantial log dam across 
the outlet, by means of which the waters of the lake 
were raised two feet. On each bank of the Susque- 
hanna wherever a clearing had been found the 
Indians had planted their crops, while sixty miles 
below were the Indian village and plantations of 
Oghwaga. 

It was not until August 9th that General Clinton 
received orders to advance. W. L. Stone says, in 
his Life oj Brant 

And when on that day he was reHeved from his vexatious 
halt the dam was broken and his flotilla was not only borne 
triumphantly along upon the pile of impatient waters, but 
the swelling of the torrent beyond its banks caused wide and 
unexpected destruction to the growing crops of the Indians 
on their plantations and at Oghwaga and its vicinity. They 



I lo The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

were moreover greatly affrighted at the sudden and unex- 
pected rise in the waters in the driest season of the year, es- 
pecially as there had been no rains and the hot midsummer sun 
was shining from a sky unflecked by fleecy cirrus, undimmed 
by sombre storm-laden clouds, and attributed the event to 
the interposition of the "Great Spirit" who thus showed he 
was angry with them. The country was wild and unin- 
habited, save by scattered families, and here and there by 
some few of the more adventurous white settlers in the 
neighborhood of Unadilla. The sudden swelling of this 
mountain stream, therefore, bearing upon its surging, tumult- 
uous waters a flotilla of more than two hundred laden 
vesesls, through a region of primitive forest, was a spectacle 
which might well appall the untutored inhabitants of the 
region thus invaded. 

At Oghwaga General Clinton was met by a detach- 
ment from Paulding's regiment, and on August 2 2d 
joined General Sullivan at Tioga Point. 



Note. Queen -Esther, notorious as the "fiend of Wy- 
oming," was living at Sheshequire, six miles below Tioga 
Point, in 1772, and removed at about that date six miles 
north and founded a new town, afterward known as Queen 
Esther's town. This was afterward destroyed by Col. 
Hartley in 1778, when she probably removed to Chemung. 
She had a son who lost his life a short time previous to the 
massacre of Wyoming, which was probably the exciting cause 
of her fury at that place. She was a daughter of French 
Margaret, granddaughter of Madam Montour, and a sister 
of Catharine Montour, 2d. She had another sister, Mary, 
who was the wife of John Cook, alias Kanaghargait, a Seneca 
chief sometimes called White Wings. Her own husband 
was Eglohawin, cliief sachem of the Minsi Delawares. 



CHAPTER IX 
SIR JOHN Johnson's second raid, October, 1780 — • 

BATTLE OF STONE ARABIA — BATTLE OF KLOCK'S 
FIELD — GENERAL ROBERT VAN RENSSELAER — 
BRITISH ACCOUNT OF THE RAIDS OF CAPTAIN 
JOSEPH BRANT 

DURING the autumn of 1 780 the Indians, thirsting 
for revenge for the wrong and misery inflicted by 
General SulHvan, were planning extensive expeditions 
against the Mohawk and Schoharie settlements. The 
leaders were Sir John Johnson, Brant, and the famous 
half-breed Corn-Planter. The Indians rendezvoused 
at Tioga Point, and, ascending the Susquehanna, 
formed a junction at Unadilla with Sir John Johnson 
and his forces, which consisted of three companies of 
his Greens, one company of German Yagers, two 
hundred of Butler's Rangers, one company of British 
regulars, under Captain Duncan, and a number of 
Mohawks. They came from Montreal by way of 
Oswego, bringing with them two small mortars, a 
brass three-pounder and a piece called a grasshopper. 
The plan of invasion was to proceed along the Char- 
lotte River to its source, thence across to the head of 
the Schoharie, sweep all the settlements along its 
course to its junction with the Mohawk, and then 
devastate the beautiful valley down to Schenectady. 



112 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

How the valley of the Schoharie was devastated, the 
many tales of cruelty by the Indians and bravery of 
the white settlers, the dwellings and bams and boun- 
tiful harvest that were destroyed, have been told so 
vividly by J. R. Simms and others that I will not at- 
tempt to repeat the gruesome tale at this time; but 
will endeavor to follow Sir John Johnson and his 
mixed forces in their progress from Fort Hunter on 
the Mohawk River, where he arrived October 1 7th and 
destroyed everything belonging to the Whigs. On 
the 1 8 th he began his devastating march up the Mo- 
hawk Valley. Caughnawaga was burned and every 
dwelling on both sides of the river as far west as Fort 
Plain was destroyed, Sir John advancing with the 
main body on the south side and Captain Duncan's 
division on the north. Conspicuous among the suffer- 
ers was Jelles Fonda, a faithful and confidential officer 
under Sir William Johnson, but who, having turned 
his back upon the royal cause, was singled out as a 
special mark of vengeance. His mansion at the 
" Nose" in the town of Palatine was destroyed, to- 
gether with property estimated at sixty thousand 
dollars. The Major was absent. Under the cover 
of a thick fog his wife escaped and made her way on 
foot to Schenectady, twenty-six miles away. 

Sir John encamped, on the i8th, above the "Nose, " 
and on the following morning crossed to the north 
side at Keder's Riff. A greater part of the motley 
army continued up the river, destroying crops and 
buildings, but a detachment of one hundred and fifty 
men was despatched from Keder's Riff (Spraker's 
Basin) against the small stockade called Fort Paris, 



Sir John Johnson's Second Raid 1 13 

in Stone Arabia, about two and one half miles from 
the Mohawk River. This fort was located a few rods 
northeast of the crossroads of this little hamlet, and 
at the time mentioned was occupied by Colonel John 
Brown with a garrison of one hundred and thirty men. 
Tidings having been sent to Albany of the advent 
of Sir John Johnson into the settlements of the 
Schoharie, General Robert Van Rensselaer, with 
the Claverack, Albany, and Schenectady regiments, 
pushed on by forced marches to encounter him, 
accompanied by Governor Clinton. On the evening 
of the 17 th this body, together with two hundred 
Oneida Indians, encamped on the Stanton farm in 
Florida, near the present city of Amsterdam, and 
from this camp, having heard that Fort Paris was 
to be attacked on the morning of the 19 th inst., he 
sent word to Colonel Brown to march out and check 
the advance of Sir John's troops, while at the same 
time he would be ready to fall on his rear. Brown 
promptly obeyed and at nine o'clock, the hour 
designated, marched about half way towards the 
river and gave battle to Sir John, who had diverted 
the greater part of his force to meet Colonel Brown 
at the ruined works of old Fort Keyser. But "the 
best-laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley, " 
and, as Van Rensselaer's advance was impeded, 
no diversion was created in Brown's favor. Fort 
Paris was three miles from the river, and undoubt- 
edly Brown could have defended it successfully 
against any force that Johnson would have sent 
against it; and yet, obeying the orders of a general 
who in other ways that day proved himself to have 



1 14 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

been incompetent, this brave man met the enemy 
two thirds of the way to the river, where the contest 
began. Overpowered by numbers he continued the 
fight, slowly retreating, expecting every moment 
to hear the firing in the enemy's rear — ^but in vain. 
Contesting the ground inch by inch for some distance, 
until observing that the Indians were gaining his 
flank, he ordered a retreat, at which time he received 
a musket-ball in his breast, killing him instantly. 
About forty of his men were killed and the remainder 
sought safety in flight. 

Sir John now dispersed his forces in small bands to 
a distance of five or six miles in every direction to 
pillage the country. He desolated Stone Arabia, 
and, proceeding to Klock's field near the present 
village of St. Johnsville, halted to rest. 

General Van Rensselaer was now in close pursuit 
of Sir John with a strong force, having marched 
rapidly up the south side of the river, and was joined 
by Captain McKean with some eighty volunteers, 
together with a strong body of Oneida warriors, led by 
their principal chief, Louis Atayataronghta, who 
had been commissioned a lieutenant - colonel by 
Congress. With these additions, the command of 
Van Rensselaer numbered about fifteen hundred — 
a force in every way superior to that of the enemy. 
W. L. Stone in Life of Brant says: "Arriving 
at Keder's ford. General Van Rensselaer found that 
Sir John had stationed a guard of forty men to dispute 
his passage. Approaching that point he halted, 
and did not again advance until the guard of the 
enemy had been withdrawn. Continuing his march, 




Ornamented Window, Church at Stone Arabia. 



Sir John Johnson's Second Raid 115 

still on the south side of the river, while the enemy 
was actively engaged in the work of death and de- 
truction on the north, Van Rensselaer arrived oppo- 
site the battle-ground where Brown had fallen, before 
the firing had ceased, and while the savage war-whoop 
was yet resounding. This was about 11 a.m., and 
the Americans came to a halt, about three miles 
below Garoga Creek, still on the south side. While 
there, some of the fugitives from Colonel Brown's 
regiment came running down, and jumping into the 
river, forded it without difficulty." 

As they came to the south bank, the General in- 
quired whence they came. One of them, a militia 
officer named Van Allen, replied that they had 
escaped from Brown's battle. ' ' How has it gone ? " — 
"Colonel Brown is killed, with many of his men. Are 
you going there?" "I am not acquainted with the 
fording place," said the General. He was answered 
that there was no difficulty in the case. The General 
then inquired of Van Allen if he would return as 
pilot, and the reply was promptly in the affirmative. 
Hereupon Captain McKean and Louis, the Oneida 
chief, led their respective commands through the river 
to the north side, expecting the main army iminedi- 
ately to follow. At this moment Colonel Dubois, 
of the State levies, rode up to the General, who im- 
mediately mounted his horse, and, instead of crossing 
the river, accompanied the Colonel to Fort Plain, 
some distance above, to dinner as it was imderstood. 
Meantime the baggage- wagons were driven into the 
river, to serve in part as a bridge for the main body 
of Van Rensselaer's forces, and they commenced 



ii6 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

crossing the stream in single files. The passage in 
this way was not effected imtil four o'clock p. m., 
at which time the General returned from Fort Plain 
and joined them just as the last man had crossed over. 
Governor Clinton remained at the fort. As the Gen- 
eral arrived at the water's edge, Colonel Louis, as 
the Oneida chieftain was called, shook his sword at 
him and denounced him as a Tory. Arrived at the 
north side, Colonel William Harper took the liberty 
of remonstrating with the General at what he con- 
ceived to be a great and unnecessary delay, attended 
with a needless loss of life and property on the part 
of the inhabitants who had been suffered thus 
long to remain unprotected. From that moment 
Van 'Rensselaer moved with due expedition. The 
troops were set in motion, and marched in regular 
order, in three divisions, with the exception of 
the Oneida warriors and the volunteers under 
McKean, who regulated their own movements as 
they pleased — showing no disposition, however, to 
lag behind. The advance was led by Colonel Morgan 
Lewis. 

Anticipating that he would be compelled to receive 
an attack. Sir John made his dispositions accordingly. 
His regular troops, Butler's Rangers, and the Tories 
less regularly organized, were posted on a small allu- 
vial plain partly encompassed by a sweeping bend of 
the river. A slight breastwork had been hastily thrown 
across the neck of the little peninsula thus formed, 
for the protection of his troops, and the Indians under 
Thayendanega were secreted among the thick scrub 
oaks covering the tableland of a few feet elevation; 



Sir John Johnson's Second Raid 117 

yet farther north a detachment of German Yagers 
supported the Indians. 

It was near the close of the day when Van Rensse- 
laer arrived, and the battle was immediately begun 
in the open field. Two of the advancing divisions of 
state troops, forming the left, were directed against 
the regular forces of Sir John on the flats, beginning 
their firing from a great distance with small arms 
only — the field-pieces not having been taken across 
the river. Colonel Dubois commanded the extreme 
right, which was so far extended that he had no ene- 
mies to encounter. Next to him were McKean's vol- 
unteers and the Oneida Indians, whose duty it was 
to attack Thayendanega's Indians and the Yagers. 
These were supported by a small corps of infantry 
commanded by Colonel Morgan Lewis. The Ameri- 
cans' left was commanded by Colonel Cuyler of Al- 
bany. Sir John's right was formed of a company of 
regulars. His own regiment of Greens composed the 
centre, its left resting upon the ambuscaded Indians. 
The latter first sounded the war-whoop, which was 
promptly answered by the Oneidas. Both parties 
eagerly rushed forward, and the attack for the instant 
was mutually impetuous. 

Dubois, though too far extended, quickly brought 
his regiment to the support of McKean's volunteers, 
who were following up the attack of the Oneidas. The 
hostile Indians manifested a disposition to stand 
for a few moments ; but Dubois had no sooner charged 
closely upon them than they fled with precipitation 
to the fording place near the upper Indian castle 
(Danube), about two miles above — crossing the road 



T 1 8 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

in their flight and throwing themselves in the rear of 
the Greens as a cover. Brant was wounded in the 
heel, but not so badly as to prevent his escape. 

The enemy's regular troops and rangers, however, fought 
with spirit, although Sir John himself was reported by some 
to have fled with the Indians. On the flight of the Indians, 
Major Van Benschoten of Dubois's regiment hastened to the 
General for permission to pursue the flying enemy. It was 
just twilight, and the indications were not to be mistaken 
that the best portion of the enemy's forces were in confusion 
and on the point of being conquered. The disappointment 
was therefore great, when, instead of allowing a pursuit of 
the Indians, or charging upon the feeble breastworks on the 
flats, and thus finishing the battle, General Van Rensselaer 
ordered his forces to retire for the night. His avowed object 
was to obtain a better position for a bivouac, and to renew- 
and complete the battle in the morning — for which he fell 
back nearly three miles, to Fox's Fort. 

Captain McKean and the Oneida chief Louis did 
not strictly obey orders, and early the next morning 
started off with their forces in pursuit. Johnson, with 
the Indians and Yagers, fled toward Onondaga Lake 
where they had left their boats concealed, his Greens 
and Rangers following. Van Rensselaer and his 
whole force pursued them as far as Fort Herkimer, 
and then McKean and Louis were ordered to press 
on in advance after the fugitives. They struck the 
trail of Johnson the next morning and soon afterward 
came upon his deserted camp with the fires yet burn- 
ing. Halting for a short time. Colonel Dubois came up 
and urged them forward, repeating the assurances of 
the General's near approach and sure support. The 
Oneida chief shook his head and refused to proceed 



Sir John Johnson's Second Raid 119 

another step until General Van Rensselaer should 
make his appearance. There was accordingly a halt 
for some time, during which a Doctor Allen arrived 
from the main army, informing the officer that the 
pursuit had already been abandoned by the General, 
who was four miles distant on his return march. 

The bitter feeling among the troops and inhabitants 
of the valley against General Van Rensselaer was 
intense, and charges of incompetency and even Tory- 
ism were freely made. It was even said that owing 
to family ties he had purposely allowed Sir John to 
escape from the toils in which the impetuosity of the 
American troops had surrounded him. However, 
the General was summoned before a military court 
and acquitted, — probably with the Scotch verdict 
"not proven. " 

It may be of interest to some to read the British 
reports of these raids as furnished by Guy Johnson: 

Lieut. Clement reports that Captain Brant has effected a 
very good piece of service and is advancing against the rebel 
frontier. On his march from hence he came upon the only 
remaining Indian village of the Oneidas, sixteen miles from 
Fort Schuyler. He found the village abandoned, but met 
some Indians who told him they had returned through fear 
of parties of strange Indians, with many other particulars 
in which it appeared they had deceived him, for they soon 
deserted and gave notice to the garrison at Fort Schuyler. 
Captain Brant then burnt the rebel fort at the village with 
other buildings and marched to the Indians below Fort 
Schuyler, where he met the Oneidas in camp and called upon 
them to follow the example of the rest of their people and 
return to the British government. About loo replied that 
it was their desire and they are now partly come to this place 
[Niagara]. 



I20 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

The small remainder ran towards Fort Schuyler, which 
they reached, except two, who were shot. [Again:] Lieut. 
Clement reports that Captain Brant has burnt and destroyed 
the Oneida village, Conowaroharie, with the rebel fort and 
village, and retired somewhat to deceive the enemy. They 
proceeded to the Mohawk River with about 300 Indians and 
arrived at the settlement called Kley's Barrack about 10 a.m. 
on August 2d, which having reconnoitred, he and the chief 
warriors thought proper to detach David Karacanty with 
the greater part of the Indians to make a detour and suddenly 
attack Fort Plank [Fort Plain], while Joseph and the re- 
mainder should come on directly and prevent any scattering 
parties from taking shelter in the fort. In this they were 
disappointed by the too great eagerness of the Indians to 
take prisoners, who scattered and alarmed the settlement, 
by which a considerable number of men got into the fort, 
which made the attack inexpedient, as it was well fortified 
and had two pieces of cannon mounted. Disappointed they 
advanced to the upper part of the settlement, where the 
rebels had a fort at the house of Hendrick Walrod, which 
they abandoned. This was immediately burned, and scat- 
tering, the Indians destroyed the houses till they came to 
Elias Map's, where they had another picketed fort, which 
they likewise burned. The extent of the settlement destroyed 
was on the Mohawk River in length two miles and above five 
miles in breadth, and containing about 100 houses, two mills, 
a church, and two forts. They took and killed 300 black 
cattle and 200 horses, besides hogs, poultry, etc., and de- 
stroyed a considerable quantity of grain of different kinds. 
The number of rebels killed and prisoners amounts to about 
45. Captain Brant released a number of women and children 
and having effected this he retired to Butler's Mills about three 
days since. With the greater part of the Indians he intends 
to pay the rebels another visit before their return, for which 
purpose they have divided into seven parties. These detach- 
ments marched by separate routes against German Flats, 
Schoharie and Cherry Valley, where they took many pris- 
oners, destroyed dwellings, and created intense alarm. 



Sir John Johnson's Second Raid 121 

The above report was dated Niagara, Aug. 11, 1 780. 
Again from the British in Sept., 1780: 

Lieut. Col. Butler with 200 rangers and 220 regular troops 
from the garrison of Niagara was directed to join Sir John John- 
son at Oswego and act under his orders. His instructions for- 
bade him to take " a single man, who is not a good marcher 
and capable of bearing fatigue. I hope Joseph is returned" 
Governor Haldimand added, "as I would by all means have 
him employed on this service. " 

Contrary winds prevented Butler from arriving at 
Oswego until October ist, and by that time the garri- 
sons on the Mohawk were warned by their Indian 
spies (Oneidas) that he had sailed from Niagara on 
an expedition of some kind. It was not until day- 
break on the 1 7th that the weary column, commanded 
by Sir John Johnson, passed the fort at the head of 
the Schoharie, having made a long detour through 
the wilderness for the purpose of attacking the enemy 
in an entirely unexpected quarter, and swept along 
the west bank of that stream down to the Mohawk, 
burning every building and stack of grain as they 
went along. Sir John then "detached Captain 
Thompson of the Rangers and Captain Brant with 
about 150 Rangers and Indians to destroy the settle- 
ment at Fort Hunter on the east side of Schoharie 
Creek, which they effected without opposition, the 
inhabitants having fled to the fort." Advancing 
swiftly up the Mohawk the invaders laid waste 
the country on both sides until midnight, when 
utterly exhausted they halted at the narrow pass 
called the "Nose" to snatch a few hours' sleep. Be- 
fore daybreak they were again on the march and soon 



122 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

encountered Colonel Brown with 360 (?) men from 
Stone Arabia, who attempted to check their further 
progress. 

While the detachments of the 8th and 34th regiments 
advanced directly upon the front of the enemy's position, 
Brant with a party of Indians made a circuit through the 
woods to turn their right flank, and Capt. John Macdonnell 
led a body of rangers in the opposite direction to turn their 
left. The position was carried with trifling loss to the assail- 
ants, while Colonel Brown and about a hundred of his men 
were killed or taken. 

Johnson reported that: 

Captain Macdonnell and Captain Brant exerted themselves 
on this occasion in a manner that did them honor and con- 
tributed greatly to our success. Captain Brant received a 
flesh wound in the sole of his foot near the former wound. 

Before night they were forced to fight a sharp rear-guard 
action with a pursuing force of more than a thousand men 
under General Robert Van Rensselaer. They turned upon 
their assailants, drove them from their position, and crossed 
the river unmolested. During their raid they had destroyed 
thirteen grist-mills, many saw-mills, a thousand houses, and 
about the same number of barns, containing, it was estimated, 
600,000 bushels of grain. The severity of the blow from a 
military point of view was freely acknowledged by their 
enemies. — Cruikshank. 

And this in retaliation for General Sullivan 's im- 
politic expedition into the Indian country. 



CHAPTER X 

COLONEL MARINUS WILLETT — BATTLE OF DORLACH 
(SHARON springs). 

DURING the year 1781 small parties of Indians 
and Tories harassed the settlements of the 
Mohawk Valley and terrorized the inhabitants. The 
spirit of the people had in a great measure been 
crushed, and the militia broken down by the disas- 
trous invasions of the previous year, and no troops 
seem to have been available for their protection, as 
the commander-in-chief was again evidently prepar- 
ing for some enterprise of greater importance than 
the protection of the valley from the skulking sav- 
ages of the north. 

It was finally decided, however, to consolidate the 
skeletons of five New York regiments into two, which 
together with all militia levies were placed in com- 
mand of Marinus Willett, whose name alone was a 
tower of strength to the people of Tryon County. A 
fortnight after his arrival and the gathering of the 
forces, it was found that his command consisted of 
barely three hundred men, including officers, with 
headquarters at Fort Rensselaer (near Fort Plain). 

On the 9th of July, 1781, nearly three hundred In- 
dians and a few white men, commanded by a Tory 
named Doxstader, attacked and destroyed the set- 
tlement of Curry town, murdered several of the 

123 



124 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

inhabitants, and carried others away as prisoners. 
Curry town was a small, straggling village of twenty or 
thirty houses and situated about three miles from the 
Mohawk south of the ' ' Nose. ' ' One of the houses, that 
of Henry Lewis, was surrounded by a stockade and 
used for a fort. The settlers, unsuspicious of danger, 
were generally at work in the fields when the enemy 
fell upon them. It was toward noon when the In- 
dians, crouching and crawling, emerged from the 
forest toward the scattered dwellings and with torch 
and tomahawk commenced their work of destruction. 
Among the sufferers were the Dievendorfs, Kellers, 
Myerses, Bellingers, Tanners, and Lewises. Jacob 
Dievendorf, the elder, escaped, but his son Frederick 
was overtaken, tomahawked, and scalped on his way 
to the fort, and Frederick's brother, a lad of eleven 
years, was taken prisoner. The enemy plundered all 
of the barns and dwellings save the fort and a house 
belonging to a Tory, and either killed or drove away 
most of the cattle and horses in the neighborhood. 
When the work of destruction was accomplished the 
marauders started off in the direction of New Dorlach 
(now Sharon) with their prisoners and booty. 

Colonel Willett was at Fort Plain when Currytown 
was attacked. On the previous day he had sent out 
a scout of thirty or forty men under Captain Gross 
to patrol the country for the twofold purpose of pro- 
curing forage and watching the movements of the 
enemy. They went in the direction of New Dorlach, 
and when near the present Sharon Springs discovered 
a portion of the enemy's camp in a cedar swamp. 
Intelligence of this fact reached Willett at the moment 



Colonel Marinus Willett 125 

when a dense smoke, indicating the firing of a village, 
was seen from Fort Plain in the direction of Curry- 
town. Captain Robert McKean with sixteen men was 
ordered to that place, with instructions to assemble 
as many of the militia on the way as possible. With 
his usual celerity that officer arrived at the settlement 
in time to assist in extinguishing the flames of some 
of the buildings yet unconsumed. Colonel Willett, 
in the meantime, was active in collecting the militia. 
Presuming that the enemy would occupy the same 
encampment that night, and being joined by the 
forces under McKean and Gross, he determined to 
make an attack upon them at midnight while they 
were asleep. His whole strength did not exceed one 
hundred and fifty men, while the enemy's force, as he 
afterward discovered, consisted of more than double 
that number. 

The night was dark and lowering, and the dense 
forest that surrounded the swamp encampment of 
the enemy was penetrated only by a bridle path. 
His guide lost his way and it was six o'clock in the 
morning before he came in sight of Doxstader's 
troops, who, warned of his approach, had taken a 
more advantageous position. From this position 
Willett sought to draw them, and for that purpose 
he sent forward a detachment from the main body, 
consisting of ten resolute men under Lieutenant Jacob 
Sammons, to steal as near as possible, give them one 
well-directed fire, and retreat. The ruse succeeded. 
Sammons and his men, after discharging their guns 
with considerable effect, turned their backs at the 
first yell of the Indians, and the latter sprang forward 



126 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

in pursuit. They were, however, soon met by Colonel 
Willett in person advancing at the head of the main 
division, which consisted of one hundred men, while 
Captain McKean was left with fifty more as reserve, 
to act as occasion might require, on the right. The 
Indians did not wait an attack, however, but with 
great appearance of determination advanced with 
their wonted shouts and yells, and began to fire. 

The onset of the Indians was furious ; but they were 
received with firmness and in turn the Americans 
advanced with their wonted shouts and such mani- 
festation of spirit as soon caused them to give way. 
Simultaneously with their attack upon the main 
body in front, the Indians had made an equally des- 
perate rush upon the right wing, which might have 
been attended with disaster, but for the destructive 
fire poured upon them by the reserves of Captain 
McKean. The Indians, thus driven back, now be- 
took themselves to their old game of firing from be- 
hind trees; but Willett' s men understood that mode 
of fighting as well as themselves. They did not, 
however, practise it long. Willett pressed forward 
waving his hat and cheering his men, calling out that 
he could catch in his hat all the balls the enemy might 
send, and in the same breath exclaiming, "The day 
is ours! " and with timely and efficient use of the bay- 
onet the whole body of the enemy was put to flight 
in half an hour after the engagement began. Their 
camp was taken and their plunder recaptiired, and 
the Indians retreated down their old trail to the Sus- 
quehanna. Their loss was severe — ^nearly forty of 
their dead being left on the field. 



Colonel Marinus Willett 127 

Colonel Willett' s loss was five killed and nine 
wounded. Among the wounded was the brave Cap- 
tain McKean, who was taken to Fort Plain, where he 
died a few days after. He received two balls early 
in the engagement, but kept at his post until it was 
all over and the Indians had fled, when he collapsed. 

Perhaps there is no more heroic figure in the history 
of the valley during the war of Revolution than that 
of Colonel Marinus Willett, the intrepid commander of 
the yeomanry who dispersed the Indians at the battle 
of Dorlach as related in the foregoing pages. He was 
bom at Jamaica, Long Island, July 31, 1740, being 
the youngest son of Edward Willett, a farmer in that 
town. When only eighteen years old he joined the 
army of General Abercrombie; as a lieutenant in 
Colonel Delaney's regiment was present at the dis- 
astrous battle at Ticonderoga in 1758, and accom- 
panied Bradstreet in his successful expedition against 
Fort Frontenac the same year. Exposure in the 
wilderness injured his health, and he was confined 
by sickness in the newly erected Fort Stanwix until 
the end of the campaign. 

At an early date he became one of the most daring 
of the "Sons of Liberty" in the city of New York. 
When the British troops of the New York garrison 
were ordered to Boston, after the skirmish at Lexing- 
ton, they attempted, in addition to their own, to carry 
off a large quantity of spare arms in boxes on wagons. 
Notwithstanding the remonstrances of Whitehead 
Hicks, the Tory mayor of New York city, and of 
Gouvemeur Morris and others, Marinus Willett and a 
smaU body of the " Sons of Liberty, " encouraged by 



128 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

John Morin Scott, boldly confronted the British sol- 
diers, seized the arms, and carried them back to the 
now deserted fort. These arms were afterwards used 
by Gansevoort's regiment, of which Willett was Heu- 
tenant-colonel. He was appointed second captain in 
Colonel McDougal's regiment; accompanied General 
Montgomery in the expedition against Canada; was 
appointed to the command of St. John's, where he 
remained until 1776. In 1777 he was in command of 
Fort Constitution on the Hudson River opposite 
West Point, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 
May of that year he was ordered to Fort Schuyler, 
where he distinguished himself as the commander of the 
sortie made from that garrison when the camps of the 
Indians were destroyed and a large quantity of muni- 
tions of war and camp equipage was captured. On 
August 8th Willett, together with Lieutenant Stock- 
well, left the fort on a dangerous secret expedition at 
midnight, skirting the Indians' camp stealthily as 
Indian scouts, and with the skill of a forest runner 
evaded the prowling savages. It was raining furiously 
when they left the sally-port each armed with spear 
and hunting knife. Between the fort and German 
Flats, their destination, was an extensive swamp, 
almost impassable. Notwithstanding this obstruction, 
the brave fellows crept along the morass on their hands 
and knees until the}^ reached the river. This they 
crossed upon a log, using their hands as paddles, and 
were soon beyond the line of savage sentinels. It 
was very dark, their pathway was in a thick and tan- 
gled woods, and they soon lost their way. The barking 
of a dog gave indication of proximity to an Indian 



Colonel Marinus Willett 129 

camp, and for hours they stood in the water up to 
their knees, fearing to advance or retreat. The 
clouds broke away toward dawn and the rain ceased 
and revealed to them the gruesome evidence that 
they were on the outskirts of Oriskany's battle-field 
and near the fatal causeway. With true backwoods- 
men's caution they pushed on in a zigzag way, occa- 
sionally walking considerable distance in the bed of a 
stream to foil pursuers that might be on their trail. 
At last they reached the German Flats in safety, 
and securing fleet horses hurried down the valley to 
the headquarters of General Schuyler to urge forward 
troops for the succor of the garrison of Fort Schuyler. 

Returning to the battle of Dorlach: At the time 
of the attack the Indians had placed most of their 
prisoners on the horses which they had stolen from 
Currytown, and each was well guarded. When they 
were about to retreat before Willett, fearing the re- 
capture of the prisoners and the consequent loss of 
scalps, the Mohawks began to murder and scalp them. 
Young Jacob Dievendorf leaped from his horse, and, 
running toward the swamp, was pursued, knocked 
down by a blow of a tomahawk on the shoulder, 
scalped, and left for dead. Willett did not bury his 
slain, but a detachment of militia, under Colonel 
Veeder, who repaired to the field after the battle to 
care for the slain, fortunately discovered and pro- 
ceeded to bury the bodies of the prisoners who were 
murdered and scalped near the camp. Young 
Dievendorf, who was stunned and insensible, had 
been partially covered with rubbish, when he was 
seen to move. His bloody face being taken for an 

9 



1 30 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

Indian, one of the soldiers levelled his musket to 
shoot him. A fellow soldier, perceiving his mistake, 
knocked up his gun and saved the lad's life. He 
was taken to Fort Plain, and being placed under 
the care of Dr. Faught, a German physician of Stone 
Arabia, was restored to health, and lived to be an 
octogenarian. 

Although defeated and driven to the southern 
frontier, the Tories and Mohawks that comprised the 
expedition were not long idle, but soon various bands 
appeared at different points in the Mohawk Valley 
whose murderous raids met with more or less success 
in the capture of prisoners, the murder of isolated 
families, and the destruction of buildings and har- 
vested crops of grain. At the German Flats several 
spirited encounters took place between the enemy 
and the patriot militia. Captain Solomon Wood- 
worth and a small band of rangers were drawn into 
ambush in the vicinity of Fort Dayton, and one of 
the most desperate and bloody engagements of the 
war ensued. Wood worth and a large number of 
his rangers were slain and several prisoners were 
taken by the Indians. Only fifteen escaped. Another 
affair occurred at a settlement called Schell's Bush, 
about four miles northeast of Herkimer village. 
* ' The heroic defence of one Christian Schell is related 
in stirring prose and halting verse." Schell or Shell 
was a wealthy German, and, in order to protect his 
family and his extensive farm buildings, erected a 
strong block-house of stout logs, of two stories, the 
upper one projecting so as to allow the inmates to 
fire perpendicularly upon the assailants. No windows 



Colonel Marinus Willett 131 

were built in the first story, but loopholes were placed 
on all sides in order to reach all points of attack, 
the entrance being protected by a massive door of 
hewn logs strongly bolted and barred. In constant 
fear of incursions of hostiles, Schell kept his diminu- 
tive castle well supplied with ammunition, water, 
and food. One sultry day in August, 1781, while 
the people were generally in the field, Donald Mc- 
Donald, one of the Scotch refugees from Johnstown, 
with a party of sixty Mohawk Indians and Tories, 
made a descent upon Schell' s Bush. With the com- 
mand were two noted traitors named Empie and 
Casseleman. 

The inhabitants mostly fled to Fort Dayton for 
safety, but Schell and his family took refuge in his 
block-house. He and his two sons were at work in 
the fields. The two sons were captured, but the 
father and the four other boys, who were near, suc- 
ceeded in reaching the block-house in safety. The 
small fort was soon invested, but the assailants were 
kept at a respectful distance by the fire from the 
garrison. Schell' s wife loaded the muskets, while her 
husband and sons discharged them with sure aim. 

McDonald tried to burn the block-house, but was 
unsuccessful. Procuring a crowbar he boldly ran 
up to the door and attempted to force it. After 
striking a few powerful blows with the bar, he was 
fired on by Schell and wounded so severely in the leg 
that he fell to the ground near the entrance. Quickly 
unbarring the door, Schell pulled the Scotchman 
into the block-house, a prisoner, at the same time se- 
curing his gun. Being well supplied with ammunition 



132 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

his capture enabled the besieged patriots to continue 
the vigorous defence, which kept the assailants at a 
safe distance or under cover of trees, stone walls and 
outlying buildings. At the capture of the Tory leader 
the battle ceased for a time, Schell was confident 
that the enemy would not attempt to bum his castle 
while their leader was a prisoner therein, and taking 
advantage of the lull in the battle he went into the 
second story and composedly sang the favorite hymn 
of Luther, "A firm fortress is our Lord, a good 
defence and Weapon." 

But the respite was short, for the Indians, mad- 
dened at the loss of several of their number, and their 
commander prisoner, rushed up to the fort on all 
sides, and five of them succeeded in thrusting the 
muzzles of their pieces through the loopholes. 

Mrs. Schell, a vigorous, quick-witted woman, seized 
an axe and with well-directed blows ruined every mus- 
ket by bending the barrels. At the same time Schell 
and his sons kept up a brisk fire, killing some, wound- 
ing others, and finally drove the enemy to cover 
again. 

In the dusk of the August twilight, Schell ran up 
to the second story and calling his wife in a loud voice 
told her that Captain Small's troops were approaching 
from Fort Dayton, and in a few minutes he shouted 
in a still louder voice: "Captain Small, march your 
company round upon this side of the house. " "Cap- 
tain Getman, you had better wheel your men to the 
left and come up on that side. ' ' 

There were, of course, no troops approaching, but 
the enemy, deceived by the strategem, fled to the 




ady Johnson, "Lovely Polly Watts," Wife of Sir John Johnson, Bart 



Colonel Marinus Willett 133 

woods. McDonald was taken to Fort Dayton the 
next day, where his leg was amputated, from which 
operation he died in a few hours. The intrepid Schell 
and his brave family clung to their post which they 
had so well and skilfuly defended. The two sons 
were carried away to Canada, from whence they re- 
turned after the war. They asserted that nine of the 
wounded died on the retreat. 

The loss of the enemy around the block-house was 
eleven killed and six wounded. None of the defend- 
ers of this little frontier castle were injured. 

At a subsequent day, Schell, being at work in a 
field with two of his sons, at no great distance from 
the fort, was fired upon by a party of Mohawks con- 
cealed in the standing wheat. He was severely 
wounded and one of his sons killed. The old man 
was taken to the fort, where he died of his wound. 

Many tales are told of murders and hair-breadth 
escapes from marauding Mohawks during the summer 
and autumn of 1781, but the activity of the brave 
Willett and the tireless energy of bands of patriotic 
rangers soon cleared the valley of hostiles and allowed 
the farmers to resume the cultivation of farms which 
they had been obliged to abandon. 



CHAPTER XI 

LADY JOHNSON 

T ADY Mary Watts Johnson, the wife of Sir John 
-'— ' Johnson, is, in memory, a picturesque personal- 
ity that hovers amid the stirring scenes of the Revo- 
lution that were enacted around her old home. Fort 
Johnson, on the Mohawk. 

She was a scion of a family of old New York whose 
ancestors were among the makers of that lordly city, 
and whose descendants have filled many positions 
of trust and honor in commerce, literature, and state- 
craft, on the battle-fields, and in the legislative halls 
of the nation. She came, in 1773, as a bride to the 
home of her husband, a beautiful young girl of nine- 
teen fresh from the glitter and wealth of the fashion- 
able society of New York and the post-nuptial feasts 
and entertainments at Albany and Schenectady. 

The voyage of the bridal party up the Hudson was 
almost equivalent, in point of duration, to a voyage 
to Europe at the present day, occupying, as it did, 
about six or eight days. 

We can imagine that the sloop was selected with 
care and that much thought was bestowed upon the 
arrangement of the cabin and the necessary stocking 
of the larder with wines and the delicacies of the 
season. The party consisted of Sir John, Lady John- 

134 



Lady Johnson 135 

son, and her brother, Stephen Watts, and probably 
a maid for the lady, and servants for the gentlemen. 
If they were very much in love with each other or at 
all romantic, they must have looked forward with 
pleasure to this week of idleness in which to enjoy 
each other's presence untrammelled by the require- 
ment of social feasts and functions on shore. 

Washington Irving has given a description of a 
voyage up the Hudson under the white wings of 
early days: 

What a time of intense delight was the first sail through 
the highlands. I sat on deck as we slowly tided along at the 
foot of those stern mountains, and gazed with wonder and 
admiration at cliffs impending far above me crowned with 
forests, with eagles sailing and screaming around them; 
or listened to the unseen streams dashing down precipices; 
or beheld rock and tree and cloud and sky reflected in the 
glassy stream of the river. And then how solemn and 
thrilling the scene as we anchored at night at the foot of these 
mountains clothed with overhanging forests; and everything 
grew dark and mysterious; and I heard the plaintive note of 
the whip-poor-will from the mountain-side, or was startled 
now and then by the sudden leap and splash of the sturgeon. 

From Schenectady the journey of the bridal party 
was not made in a palatial railroad coach of the twen- 
tieth century, but on a rude Mohawk River fiatboat 
propelled by a half-score of half -naked polemen into 
the heart of the wilderness, into the Mohawks' country. 

Have you ever imagined the feelings of this young 
bride as she contemplated the environment of her 
new home, and contrasted it with the social pleasures 
with which she was surrounded at her home in the 
metropolis ? 



136 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

It is true that the stone baronial mansion, rising 
grim and gray from the midst of a grove of young 
locust, was imposing in size and appearance, and its 
environs pleasing to a lover of nature. 

Thirty paces to the east a forest stream ran gur- 
gling and seething through the grounds, and, ,two 
hundred paces to the south, lost itself in the flood of 
the Mohawk. The high grounds immediately to the 
north had been cleared of forest growths, but the ra- 
vine through which the Kayaderosseros Creek flowed 
was dark and damp under the shade of towering pines 
and rank undergrowth. Stretching to the east and 
to the west, on both sides of the river, was a long, 
narrow Hne of fertile flats, a section of the great 
granary of the Mohawk which the stream with its 
silvery glint cut in twain. The building itself seemed 
to wear an air of hospitality, which was even more 
apparent when the portal was crossed. 

The interior of the house was finished with pan- 
elled walls and wide heavy mouldings, each of its eight 
rooms being of generous size. A wide hall on the 
main floor, with its stairvi^ay guarded by a narrow 
mahogany rail and slim baluster, was repeated above, 
while the stairs continued on to the large garret with 
huge beams and dormer windows. 

The store which formerly flanked the building on 
the west side, but a little in front, had been removed, 
but the two smaller stone buildings, one on each side 
of the house, for kitchen and servants' quarters, still 
remained. Back of the house, just at the entrance 
of the high grounds of the ravine through which the 
stream flowed, stood the grist-mill, with fiiime leading 




o 



o 

o 






H 



Lady Johnson 137 

to the dam a few hundred feet to the north, while on 
the left bank of the creek were bams, storehouses, 
and one or two dwellings. 

Of the domestic affairs at the mansion we know 
nothing, but it is assumed, that, with wealth at his 
command. Sir John's retinue of servants must have 
been ample and the regime adequate. 

It is said that Lady Johnson was accompanied by 
her brother, Stephen Watts, and that frequent visits 
to friends at Schenectady and Albany relieved some- 
what the monotony of her existence. 

It is true that the Hall was but ten miles away, but 
what sort of companionship would Molly Brant and 
her brood of half -savage half-breeds afford to a 3^oung 
girl fresh from the pleasures of the social life of the 
city and the fond care of parents, relatives, and friends ? 
Before the end of a twelvemonth, death invaded the 
Hall at Johnstown, and left vacant a space in the life 
of Tryon County and the home life of Sir William 
that Sir John was called upon to attempt to fill. How 
inadequate his attempt and how futile his endeavor 
history records. 

How long Molly Brant and her children remained 
at the Hall I have no means of knowing, but it is 
probable that it was for a number of months or per- 
haps a year; but it is safe to assume that she went 
with Guy Johnson, Brant, and the Mohawks when they 
disappeared in the Indian country in August, 1775, 
as she is known to have been living at Joseph Brant's 
home at Indian Castle previous to active hostilities 
in the Mohawk Valley ; was at Saratoga with the Mo- 
hawks previous to the suiTender of Burgoyne; and 



138 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

went to Niagara with the Indians during Sullivan's 
raid in 1779. She died in 1805, presiimably at Niag- 
ara, but up to the present time no knowledge of her 
burial place can be obtained. 

Nevertheless, Lad}^ Johnson lived at Johnson Hall, 
Johnstown, after Sir William's death, doing the hon- 
ors as hostess and mingling in the society of that 
frontier village. The family of John Butler lived 
about two miles south of Johnstown and were inti- 
mate friends and frequent visitors at the Hall, Walter 
N. Butler, the son of John Butler, being a close friend 
of the new Baronet, and a comrade in the subsequent 
raids through the valley which made their names 
notorious in history, and, in the case of Lieutenant 
Walter N. Butler, infamous. 

Mention has been made in a previous chapter of the 
removal of Lady Johnson from the Hall by Colonel 
Dayton immediately after the exodus of Sir John and 
his Highlanders and their fearful march through the 
Adirondack wilderness, at which time she was taken 
to Albany, nominally under arrest. Here she remained 
some time, until it was discovered that she was in 
communication with Sir John in Canada, giving him 
valuable information detrimental to the cause of 
the patriots, when she was removed and placed under 
closer surveillance. 

It is said, and it is conceded to be true, that Lady 
Johnson was held as a hostage for the good behavior 
of her husband, and that she was threatened by the 
officer in charge in the following terms: 

" My command does not extend beyond this province; 
but if Sir John comes one foot within my district with his 



Lady Johnson 139 

murderous allies — your fate is sealed ! " ** How, sir, what do 
you mean? What can I do?" gasped the lady. " I mean, 
madam, that if your husband lets his Indians go on scalping 
our people, we cannot prevent them from shooting you. 
. . . Your case, is different from all others. Sir John 
has power over the Indians whom no one else can control. 
We have no wish to injure you individually; but we must 
save our people from his savages. We hold you and your 
children as hostages." 

If such language was used to a delicate, helpless 
woman, it was certainly brutal, but it is also true that 
no such action would or could have been enforced, and 
the threat must be considered as the vaporing of an 
irresponsible mind. No one supposes for a moment 
that General Washington or General Schuyler would 
permit a woman, however high or however lowly her 
station, to suffer for the acts of her husband. 

Lady Johnson at this time was undoubtedly an 
irritable, petulant woman (made so perhaps by her 
delicate condition), imbued with a very exalted idea 
of her station as the wife of a baronet of the realm 
of Great Britain, and, because she was restrained 
from communicating with Sir John while within the 
lines of the patriots, she rebelled and resented the 
restraint that was accorded to the wives and families 
of the Tories of the valley who were fighting in the 
ranks of the British troops. 

In January, 1777, Lad}^ Johnson made her escape 
from her captors, in disguise "through deepest snow, 
through extreme cold weather, through lines of in- 
grates and enemies, into the loyal city of New York. " 

The following incidents of her escape are related 
by her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Christopher Johnson: ; 



I40 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

Having obtained passes, the party, which consisted of Lady 
Johnson, her maid, three children, and Tony, an old family 
slave, fled in disguise. The children were, probably, William, 
bom in 1775, a little daughter bom in 1776, and an infant 
bom during her captivity and at the time of her escape (?) 
not many weeks old. Horses and a sleigh had been secured 
and they proceeded on their way without obstruction, except 
that they were occasionally obliged to show their passes 
until they were in the vicinity of Grove house, which was only 
a short distance from the British lines. Here, under some 
cattle sheds, they left their equipage, without going to the 
house, and made their way towards the Hudson. Travelling 
all day, each one carrying a child, they were fortunate in 
finding a resting place towards evening, where they received 
food and shelter, but the infant, who had to obtain its nourish- 
ment from its mother's breast, suffered from the physical 
exhaustion of my lady and became a source of great anxiety. 
They arose in the morning, however, to find that they were 
only two miles from the river, but the problem of crossing 
could only be solved at its banks. Hurrying forward with 
all speed to escape a Continental soldier who they understood 
was hunting for the party, they reached the river only to find 
that the ice was breaking up and floating down the stream 
in great masses, occasionally leaving openings between. 
The centre of the river seemed to be comparatively clear, 
and if a boat could be secured, and they could take advantage 
of an opening between the cakes and get through to the open 
water before the masses of ice came together, they stood a 
fair chance in reaching the opposite bank of the river. 

A boat and boatman was fortunately found and by the use 
of gold, of which Lady Johnson had a good supply, the man 
agreed to make the attempt. Clasping her infant closely in 
her arms to give it warmth, its little chilled face and closed 
eyes giving her great anxiety, she watched Tony's guidance 
of the boat with fear and trembling until they were at last 
in midstream, clear of the threatening masses of ice, and in 
half an hour reached the opposite shore. 

The British tents were in sight; gold was thrown to th© 



Lady Johnson 141 

boatman, and though the snow was deep and soft the lady, 
staggering with weakness, struggled through the mile which 
yet separated them from the first line of sentries. Indians 
were the first who spied the party, and, though they received 
with their usual composure the announcement of the lady's 
name, a glance sent off two of their number towards the camp 
while the others, wrapping some furs around the lady and 
her infant, lifted them with the utmost care and tenderness 
in their powerful arms, till they were met by the messenger 
returning with blankets and mattresses hastily formed into 
litters. On these all were carefully deposited and carried 
on swiftly, Tony weeping in joy and thankfulness over his 
mistress and trying to comfort her by telling her that Sir 
John was coming. 

The poor mother cast one hopeful glance toward the dis- 
tance, and another of anxiety upon her infant, who just opened 
its little eyes, and ere she could see that it was the last con- 
vulsion of the sinking frame she was clasped in the arms of 
her husband and was borne, insensible, to the quarters of 
the commander-in-chief, where every care and comfort was 
bestowed upon her and her children that their exhausted 
state required. 

The first delight of being restored to her husband and 
seeing her children at rest and in safety was marred by the 
anguish of missing the little loved one whom she had borne 
through so much sorrow and suffering. " But a few hours 
sooner," she thought, "and my pretty one had been saved." 
But the joy and thankfulness of those around her soon stilled 
her repining. Both her surviving children appeared to be 
entirely restored to health ; but with the little girl the appear- 
ance was fallacious. After the first week her strength and 
appetite declined, and her parents had the grief of laying her 
in an untimely grave, from the destructive effects of cold 
and exposure on a frame previously debilitated by illness 
during her mother's captivity, when she could not procure 
either advice or proper medicines. 

After a short stay in New York city Sir John 



142 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

returned to Canada, and from that time until the close 
of the war his energy was devoted to strenuous ag- 
gression against the inhabitants of the territory of 
his birthplace. Subsequently Lady Johnson joined 
her husband in Canada, her principal dweUing place 
being in Montreal, although the summer months were 
spent, frequently, on Sir John's seigniory at Argenteuil 
on the Ottawa River. She also \dsited in England, 
where she was much admired in court circles. Lady 
Johnson bore her husband ten sons and four daugh- 
ters. Chie son, James Stephen Johnson, was killed at 
the siege of Badajoz, in 1814: one daughter, Cather- 
ine Maria Johnson, man-ied Major-General Bernard 
Foord Bowes, who fell at Salamanca, in 181 2, while 
leading the troops to an assault. A public monu- 
ment was erected to his memory in St. Paul's Ca- 
thedral, London. Lady Johnson died in Montreal 
August 7, 181 5. Her husband survived her, and 
died in the same place, January 4, 1830. Both are 
buried at "Mount Johnson, " near Chambly, Province 
of Quebec. (General J. Watts de Peyster's Sir 
John J oJ ins on.) 

Much has been written about the first raid of Sir 
John Johnson in 1780, which is said to have been 
undertaken not alone in revenge for the alleged 
crvielty to his wife and the death of two of his children 
through the hardships and exposirre incident to Lady 
Johnson's escape through the American lines to the 
city of New York, but also for the sordid reason of 
regaining his buried treasures and papers left behind 
in his flight through the Adirondacks in 1776. These 



Lady Johnson 143 

treasures consisted of a large quantity of plate and 
other valuables together with papers and documents 
whose intrinsic value is not known. The plate was 
undoubtedly of great value, as it is said that it was 
packed in the knapsacks of forty soldiers. 

Without doubt other valuable plate was also re- 
moved to Canada at the same time by the Mohawks. 
Upon their first flight from the valley the communion 
service and paraphernalia of Queen Anne's Chapel 
at Fort Hunter, given to the Mohawks in 171 2, was 
placed in a hogshead and buried on the Hudson farm 
west of the mouth of the Schoharie River. This plate 
was dug up uninjured, but the more destructible orna- 
ments of the altar were destroyed. The plate is now 
in the custody of the descendants of Joseph Brant at 
Brantford and Deseronto, Ontario, Canada, in an ex- 
cellent state of preservation, an almost fabulous value 
being placed upon it. 

Whether the Johnsons' valuables were placed in 
hogsheads or chests we do not know, as the faithful 
slave who was left behind to watch over and guard the 
secret place of burial was true to his trust, although 
he became the property of an American upon the 
flight of Sir John, and returned to Canada with him 
at the time of its removal. The route taken was north 
from Johnstown to Sacandaga River, thence to the 
Hudson and Scroon rivers, to Scroon Lake and Lake 
Champlain, via Crown Point to Canada. It is said, 
however, that this plate, which was handled by hands 
imbued with blood of the Vischers, the Putmans, 
the Fondas, and other residents of the old town of 
Caughnawaga, was never destined to be of any profit 



144 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

to Sir John, for the papers and documents were de- 
stroyed through dampness and, "the silver and other 
articles retrieved at such a cost of peril, of life, of 
desolation, and of suffering, was not destined to 
benefit any one. What, amid fire and sword and 
death and devastation, had been recovered was placed 
on shipboard for conveyance to England, and by the 
irony of fate the vessel foundered in the gulf of 
St. Lawrence, and its precious though blood-stained 
freight sank into the abyss of the sea. 

With Sir John Johnson's second raid, in October of 
the same year, 1780, his mission of vengeance ended, 
although he still continued to be a 'menace" to the 
northern frontier. 

It is said that the history of one century should be 
written by the people of the next. It is now a century 
and a quarter later than the period of Sir John John- 
son's raids of vengeance. What is the verdict of its 
historians ? Are the people of old Tr3^on County ready 
to rehabilitate the man whose war-cry was vengeance, 
whose instruments of death were the scalping-knife, 
the tomahawk, and the torch, inflicted for the loss of 
wide domains and for fancied indignities to his young 
wife ? Was it for love of old England, of which he was 
an alien, that he refused to sign a pledge and keep his 
parole ? His conduct at Oriskany and Fort Schuyler 
was legitimate, heroic warfare, and if he had continued 
to meet the American soldiers face to face and trusted 
to the God of battles to decide, we might attribute 
his zeal to loyalty to the King and love of the father- 
land ; but the desolation of fair fields, the burning of 
granaries, the sacking of homesteads, the failure to 



Major Stephen Watts 145 

restrain the hands that carried the torch and the 
scalping-knife, be those hands red or white, can never 
be condoned in one century or many.' 

THE WOUNDING OF MAJOR STEPHEN WATTS 

Mention has been made of the serious and almost 
fatal wounding of Major Stephen Watts, the brother 
of Lady Polly Watts Johnson. As Major Watts 
was a guest of Sir John at Fort Johnson and John- 
son Hall it is probable that he fled to Canada 
through the Adirondack wilderness with Sir John 
Johnson and his Scotch retainers in May, 1776, 
although it is possible that he may have gone with 
Colonel Guy Johnson when he disappeared in the 
Indian country in May, 1775. 

However, in July, 1 777, we find him with St. Leger's 
army in front of Fort Schuyler, and in command of 
the second detachment of "Johnson's Greens" at the 
battle of Oriskany, August 6, 1777. This body of 
soldiers was comprised almost entirely of Tories who 
had fled from the valley with the Johnsons, and now 
returned as British subjects to fight for the King and 
to regain, if possible, the lands and homesteads they 
had abandoned. 

Stories of heroism in battle, although accompanied 
with a display of brutal passions, often engage the 
attention of the most gentle of readers at their recital, 
causing them to forget for the time being the barbar- 
ity of war, and constraining them to rejoice in a victory 
which has all the elements of beastly conflict. 

' Since the above was put in print it has been ascertained through 
the inspection of the Archives of the province of Ontario, that Sir 
John Johnson received from the British Government $221,000 for his 
losses by confiscation and sequestration after the War of Revolution 



10 



146 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

Such I think is the case with that part of the engage- 
ment which relates to the fratricidal combat between 
the Americans and Major Watts' s detachment of 
"Johnson's Greens, ' which resulted in victory for the 
patriots. 

This part of the Oriskany engagement has always 
fascinated me, and the old proverb, "When Greek 
meets Greek then comes the tug of war," seems pe- 
culiarly apt when applied to that gruesome contest. 

It was at the time of the cessation of that terrific 
thunder-storm which drenched friend and foe alike and 
caused even the Indians to scurry to cover like a covey 
of partridges, and the Americans were fighting with 
a fury that was slowly but surely turning the tide of 
battle in their favor, that the troops of Major Watts 
dashed forward against the ranks of the nearly ex- 
hausted but still fearless Americans. As they drew 
near it was observed by this patriotic band that they 
were former neighbors, and in some cases relatives, 
who had fled from old Try on County with the Johnsons 
and now returned with arms in their hands and bit- 
ter hate in their hearts. After the first discharge of 
their muskets the recognition seemed mutual, as with 
a snarl and howl of rage they leaped upon each other 
with the fierceness of tigers. Clubbing their muskets, 
or discarding them entirely, they drew their knives 
and grappled each other, or throttled with bare 
hands, sometimes dying together in one another's 
close embrace. 

It was a terrible struggle, exhibiting all of the 
cruelty and brutality which distinguishes civil war 
in all its gruesome details. 



Major Stephen Watts i47 

It was in this fierce combat that Major Watts was 
wounded, about the time that the Indians raised the 
retreating cry "Oonah! Oonah!" and fled, the 
Tories soon following them, leaving their dead and 
woimded to the care of the victorious though sadly 
stricken Americans. 

Mrs. Bonney, according to Colonel W. L. Stone, 
gives the following account of the wounding and sub- 
sequent rescue of the Major. 

Major Watts was wounded through the leg by a ball and 
in the neck by a thrust from a bayonet which passed through 
the back of the windpipe and occasioned such an effusion of 
blood as to induce not only him but his captors to suppose 
(after leading him two or three miles) that he must die in 
consequence. He begged his captors to kill him; they re- 
fused and left him by the side of a small stream under the 
shade of a bridge, where he was found two days subsequently, 
his wound in bad condition, but still alive. He was borne 
by some Indians to Schenectady, where his leg was amputated, 
and where he remained until sufficiently recovered to bear a 
voyage to England. 

It is said on the authority of General de Peyster, 
his grand-nephew, that soon after his arrival in 
England he married a Miss Nugent, and lived and 
died in elegant retirement surrounded by a noble 
family of equally brave sons. 

J. R. Simms gives some additional details of the 
finding of the desperately wounded Major : 

Being discovered by Henry N. Failing, a private soldier 
of the Canajoharie district, he kindly carried him to a little 
stream, that he might slack his thirst and die more easily. 
To his thanks for his kindness he added the gift of his watch, 



148 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

a silver-cased one, and of a style known at that period as a 
"bull's-eye" from its resemblance in shape. Two days 
after, Major Watts was discovered alive by some straggUng 
Indians. . . . The subsequent history of this watch 
was as follows: Not long after he obtained it, Failing sold it 
to a Marten G. Van Alstyne for $300 Continental money 
(value at that time about $30) , who retained it in his possession 
during his lifetime. What finally became of this rehc of that 
bloody field is unknown. 



CHAPTER XII 

WILL OF SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON 

IN the name of God, amen — I, Sir William Johnson, 
of Johnson Hall, in the county of Tryon and Province 
of New York, Bart., being of sound and disposing mind, 
memory and understanding, do make, publish and declare, 
this to be my last will and testament, in manner and form 
following: 

First and principally, I resign my soul to the great and 
merciful God who made it, in hopes, through the merits alone 
of my blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, to have a 
joyful resurrection to life eternal; and my body I direct 
to be decently interred in the place which I intend for it; 
and I would willingly have the remains of my beloved wife, 
Catharine, deposited there, if not done before my decease; 
and I direct and desire my hereinafter mentioned executors 
to provide mourning for my housekeeper, Mary Brant, and 
for all her children; also for young Brant and William, both 
half-breed Mohawks, likewise my servants and slaves; it is 
also my desire that the sachems of both Mohawk villages be 
invited to my funeral, and there to receive each a black 
Stroud blanket, crape and gloves, which they are to wear, 
and follow as mourners, next after my own family and friends. 
I leave it to the discretion of my executors, to get such of 
my friends and acquaintances for bearers as they shall judge 
most proper, who are to have white scarves, crapes and gloves, 
the whole expense not to exceed three hundred pounds 
currency. And as to the worldly and temporal estate, 
which God was pleased to endow me with, I devise, bequeath 
and dispose of in the following manner: Imprimis. I will, 
order and direct, that all such just debts as I may owe, at 

149 



1 50 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

the time of my decease, together with m}- funeral expenses 
of every kind, to be paid by my son, Sir John Johnson, Bart. 
Item. I givG r.nd bequeath to the following persons the sums 
of money hereafter mentioned, which several sums of money 
are to be prid to them, by my executors, out of the money 
I may have in the three per cent, consolidated annuities, of 
which the heir of the late Sir William Baker has the manage- 
ment, and that in six months after my decease. And first, 
to the children of my present housekeeper, Mary Brant, 
the sum of one thousand pounds sterling, to wit: To Peter, 
my naturd son by said Mary Brant, the sum of three hundred 
pounds sterling, and to each of the rest, being seven in number, 
one hundred pounds each; the interest thereof to be duly 
received and Icid out to the best advantage by their guardians 
or trustees, and also the income of whatever other legacies, 
&c., as are hereafter to be mentioned, until they come of age 
or marry, except what is necessary for their maintenance and 
education. Item. To young Brant, alias Keghneghtaga, and 
William, alias Tegcheunto, two Mohawk lads, the sum of one 
hundred pounds York currency to each or the survivor of them. 
After paying the before mentioned sums of money, I 
bequeath to my dearly beloved son, Sir John Johnson, the 
remaining part of what money I may then have left in the 
before mentioned, and the other half to be equally divided 
between my two sons-in-law, Daniel Claus and Guy Johnson, 
for the use of their heirs. Item. I bequeath to my son, Sir 
John Johnson, my library and household furniture at the 
Hall, except what is in my bedroom and in the children's 
rooms or nursery, which is to be equally divided among them; 
I also bequeath to him all my plate, except a few articles 
which I gave to the children of my housekeeper, Mary Brant; 
he is also to have one-fourth part of all my slaves, and the 
same of my stock of cattle of every kind. To my two daugh- 
ters, Ann Claus and Mary Johnson, two-fourths of my slaves 
and stock of cattle ; the other fourth of my slaves and stock 
of cattle of every kind, I give and bequeath to the children 
of Mary Brant, my housekeeper, or to the sun-ivors of them. 



1^^ 




"rlfl 






v'(\t\WvJV 



The Doorway, Old Fort Johnson. 



Will of Sir William Johnson 151 

to be equally divided amongst them, except two horses, two 
cows, two breeding cows, and four sheep, which I would 
have given before any division is made to young Brant and 
Wilham of Canajoharie, and that within three months after 
my decease. I also give and devise all my own wearing ap- 
parel, woolen and linen, &c., to be equally divided among 
the children of my said housekeeper, Mary Brant, share and 
share ahke. 

In the next place I dispose of my real estate, all of my 
own acquiring, in the following manner, and as I maturely 
weighed the affair, and made the most equitable division 
which my conscience directed, I expect all who share of it 
will be satisfied, and wish they may make a proper use of it. 
And first, to my son. Sir John Johnson, Bart., I devise and 
bequeath all my estate at and about Fort Johnson, with all 
the buildings, improvements, &c., thereunto belonging, to be, 
by him and his heirs, forever peaceably possessed and enjoyed. 
Also a small tract of land on the south side of the river, 
opposite Fort Johnson; fifty thousand acres of Kingsland 
or Royal Grant, all in one body, except the few lots which I 
have otherwise disposed of; also my share in a patent called 
Klock & Nellis, jr., on the north side of the Mohawk River. 
I also devise and bequeath to my son, Sir John Johnson, all 
my right and title to the Salt Lake, Onondaga, and the lands 
around it, two miles in depth, for which I have a firm deed, 
and it is also recorded in the minutes of council at New York; 
I likewise devise and bequeath to my said son lot No. lo in 
said meadow or patent Sacandaga, containing two hundred 
and sixty-three acres, to be by him and his heirs, of his body 
lawfully begotten, forever quietly and peaceably possessed 
and enjoyed; lastly, I do most earnestly recommend it to 
my son to show lenity to such of the tenants as are poor and be 
of upright conduct in all his dealings with mankind, which 
will, upon reflection, afford more satisfaction and heart- 
feeling pleastire, to a noble and generous mind, than the 
greatest opulency. 

In the next place, I devise and bequeath to my son-in-law, 
Colonel Daniel Claus, and to his heirs, the tract of land 



152 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

whereon he Hves, to wit: from Dove kill to the creek which 
lies about four hundred yards to the northward of the new 
dwelling house of Colonel Guy Johnson, together with all the 
islands thereto belonging; also the house and lots in Albany 
which I purchased of Henry Holland, together with the water 
lot adjoining thereto, which I purchased of the corporation 
of Albany, together with all the buildings and other im- 
provements thereon. 

I further devise and bequeath unto the said Daniel Claus 
and the heirs of his body, all my right in the patent ad- 
joining the German Flats, on the south side of the Mohawk 
River, containing about sixteen hundred acres; also three 
lots in the patent of Kingsborough, to wit: No. thirteen, 
fourteen and fifty-seven; in the western allotment of three 
lots in Sacandaga patent, to wit: No. twenty-nine, sixty-six, and 
twenty -seven, containing each two hundred and fifty acres; a 
third part of a lot in Schenectady, which exchanged with Daniel 
Campbell, Esq. ; also ten thousand acres of land in the Royal 
Grant, next to that of Sir John Johnson, which is never to be 
sold or alienated. And lastly, I devise and bequeath unto 
the said Daniel Claus and the heirs of his body, nine hundred 
acres, the half of that land that was Gilbert Tice's, in the nine 
partners patent, between Schoharie and the Mohawk; the 
whole of the several tracts, lots and houses and before men- 
tioned, to be by him and his heirs, of his body lawfully be- 
gotten, forever quietly and peaceably possessed and enjoyed. 
Item. I devise and bequeath to my son-in-law. Colonel Guy 
Johnson, and the heirs of his body lawfully begotten, the 
farm and tract of land whereon he now lives, together with 
all the islands, buildings, and other improvements thereon; 
also the house and lot of land in Schenectady, purchased by 
me of Paul Cowes, and now in the possession of the said Guy 
Johnson; all my right in the Northampton patent, which I 
purchased of one Dewey; two lots in Sacandaga patent 
containing one thousand acres, to wit: lot No. one and two, 
near to the river and on both sides of Sacandaga Creek ; three 
lots of land in Kingsborough, No. eighty-seven, eighty-eight 
and eighty-nine, containing each one hundred acres of land, 




A Door at Old Fort Johnson. 



Will of Sir William Johnson 153 

and one in the eastern allotment; ten thousand acres of land 
in the Royal Grant, now called Kingsland, adjoining to the 
ten thousand acres given to Colonel Daniel Claus, which is 
never to be sold nor alienated on any account; and lastly, 
nine hundred acres in the half of that land which was Gilbert 
Tice's in the nine partners patent between Schoharie and 
the Mohawk village; all the above-mentioned farms, tracts 
of land and houses with their appurtenances, to be by him 
and his heirs, of his body lawfully begotten, forever peaceably 
and quietly possessed and enjoyed. I devise and bequeath 
unto Peter Jackson, my natural son by Mary Brant, my 
present housekeeper, the farm and lot of land which I pur- 
chased from the Snells in the Stoneraby patent, with all the 
buildings, mill and other improvements thereon; also two 
hundred acres of land adjoining thereto, being part of Kings- 
borough patent, to be laid out in a compact body, between 
the Garoge and Caniadutta Creeks; also four thousand acres 
in the Royal Grant, now called Kingsland, next to the Mohawk 
River, and another strip or piece of land in the Royal Grant, 
from the Little Falls or carrying-place to lot No. one, almost 
opposite the house of Hannicol Herkimer, and includes two 
lots, No. three and No. two, along the river side, and which 
are now occupied by Ury House &c. I devise and bequeath 
unto Elizabeth sister of the aforesaid Peter, and daughter 
of Mary Brant, all that farm and lot of land in Harrison's 
patent, on the north side of the Mohawk River, at No. nineteen, 
containing near seven hundred acres, bought by me several 
years ago of Mr. Brown, of Salem, with all the buildings and 
appurtenances thereunto belonging; also two thousand acres 
of land in the Royal Grant, now called Kingsland, and that 
to be laid out joining to that of her brother Peter, both which 
she and the heirs of her body, lawfully begotten, are to enjoy 
peaceably forever. 

To Magdalene, sister of the two former, and daughter of 
Mary Brant, I devise and bequeath that farm near to 
Anthony's Nose, No. eight, containing about nine hundred 
acres of land, and on which Mr. Broat now lives, with all the 
buildings and improvements and other appurtenances there- 



154 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

unto belonging ; also two thousand acres of land in the Royal 
Grant, now called Kingsland, adjoining to that tract of her 
sister Elizabeth. 

To Margaret, sister of the above named Magdalene, and 
daughter of Mary Brant, I devise and bequeath two lots of 
land, part of Stoneraby patent, the one to wit: No. twenty- 
five, which I bought of William Marshall, contains one hundred 
acres, the other, No. twelve, contains one hundred and 
thirty-one acres and a half, or thereabouts, which I purchased 
of Peter Weaver; also two thousand acres in the Royal 
Grant, now called Kingsland, to be laid out next to her sister 
Magdalene. 

To George, my natural son by Mary Brant, and brother 
to the four before-mentioned children, I devise and bequeath 
two lots of land, part of Sacandaga patent, known by Nos. 
forty-three and forty-four, and called New Philadelphia, 
containing two hundred and fifty acres each; also a small 
patent or tract of land called John Braekans, lying on the 
north side of the Mohawk River, almost opposite to the 
Canajoharie castle, and contains two hundred and eighty 
acres or thereabouts; and lastly, three thousand acres in 
the Royal Grant, now called Kingsland, next to the two thou- 
sand acres given to his sister Margaret. The said farms or 
tracts of land with all the buildings and other appurtenances 
belonging to them, are to be by him, and the heirs of his 
body lawfully begotten, forever quietly and peaceably 
possessed and enjoyed. 

To Mary, daughter of Mary Brant, and sister of the before- 
mentioned five children, I devise and bequeath two thousand 
acres in the Royal Grant, now called Kingsland, adjoining those 
of her brother George; also two lots in Stoneraby patent, No. 
thirty-six and thirty-eight, containing about one hundred and 
fifty acres, which I bought of Peter Davis and Hannes Kilts. 

To Susannah, daughter of Mary Brant and sister of the 
foregoing six children, I devise and bequeath three thousand 
acres of the Royal Grant, now called Kingsland, laid out 
adjoining to them of her sister Mary. 

To Anne, sister of the foregoing seven children by Mary 




u 

O 

6 



Will of Sir William Johnson 155 

Brant, I devise and bequeath three thousand acres of the 
Royal Grant, now called Kingsland, to be laid out next to 
that of her sister Susannah, and to be by her, and the heirs of 
her body lawfully begotten, forever quietly and peaceably 
possessed and enjoyed. 

To young Brant altas Kaghneghtaga of Canajoharie, I give 
and bequeath one thousand acres of land in the Royal Grant, 
now called Kingsland, to be laid out next to and adjoining the 
before-mentioned land of Anne, daughter of Mary Brant. 
Also to William, alias Tagawirunte, of Canajoharie, one thou- 
sand acres of land in said Royal Grant, al-ias Kingsland, ad- 
joining that of Brant, to be by them and the heirs of their 
body, lawfully begotten, forever quietly and peaceably pos- 
sessed and enjoyed. 

It is also my will and decree, that in case any of the before- 
mentioned eight children of mine by Mary Brant should die 
without issue, their share or shares, as well of my personal as 
real estate, be equally divided amongst the survivors of them 
by their guardians. 

To my prudent and faithful housekeeper, Mary Brant, 
mother of the before-mentioned eight children, I will and 
bequeath the lot No. one, being part of the Royal Grant now 
called Kingsland, and is opposite to the land whereon Honnicol 
Herkimer now lives, which she is to enjoy peaceably during 
her natural life; after which it is to be possessed by her son 
Peter, and his heirs forever ; I also give and bequeath to my said 
housekeeper one negro wench named Jenny, the sister of Juba; 
also the sum of two hundred pounds, current money of New 
York, to be paid to her by my executors within three months 
after my decease ; I also devise and bequeath to Mary McGrah, 
daughter of Christopher McGrah, of the Mohawk country, two 
hundred acres of land in the patent of Adageghteinge, now 
called Charlotte River, to be by her and her heirs forever 
peaceably possessed and enjoyed. 

I give and bequeath to my brothers, John and Warren 
Johnson, to my sisters Dease, Sterling, Plunkent, and Fitz- 
simons, the following tracts of land, which I would have sold 
by my executors to the best advantage, and moneys arising 



156 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

therefrom to be equally divided among them and their heirs, 
to wit: whatever part of the patent called Byrne's at Schoharie, 
may remain unsold at my decease; also my fourth part of 
another patent at Schoharie called Lawyer & Zimmer's 
patent; also that of Adageghteinge or Charlotte River; and 
lastly, the five thousand acres which I have in Glen and Vroo- 
man's patent; also the thirteen thousand acres which I have 
in the patent called Peter Servis near General Gage's or 
whatever part of the aforesaid tracts may be unsold at the 
time of my decease; this, (from the many losses which I have 
sustained, and the several sums expended by me during the 
war which were never paid) , is all I can possibly do for them 
without injuring others,which my honor and conscience will not 
admit of. As his present Majesty, George the third, was gra- 
ciously pleased as a mark of his favor and regard, to give me a 
patent under the great seal for the tract of land now called 
Kingsland, and that without quit rent, except a trifling ac- 
knowledgment to be paid yearly, it is my will and desire that 
no part of it be ever sold by those to whom I have devised it, 
as that would be acting contrary to my intentions and deter- 
mined resolution. 

I devise and bequeath to my much esteemed nephew 
Doctor John Dease the sum of five hundred pounds current 
money of New York, to be paid to him within six months 
after my decease by my executors out of such moneys as I may 
have in this country at that time, or by my son. Sir John, for 
which he, my said son Sir John Johnson, shall have and forever 
enjoy that lot of land in Sacandaga patent whereon Martin 
Lafifier and two more tenants now live, viz: No. eighty-four, 
containing two hundred and fifty acres. I also devise and 
bequeath unto my said nephew, John Dease, Esq., two 
thousand acres of land lying near to South Bay, or Lake 
Champlain, which tract was purchased by me of Lt. Augustine 
Prevost, and which was formerly the location of Ensign or 
Lt. Gorvel, with all the advantages thereunto belonging; 
or should he, my said nephew, prefer or rather choose to 
have the value of it in money, in that case it is my will and 
desire that my executors dispose of said land to the best 



mafh 




rt4 



03 






o 



Will of Sir William Johnson 157 

advantage and pay the amount of it to my said nephew. 

To my faithful friend, Robert Adams, Esq., of Johnstown, 
the dwelHng house, other buildings, and the lot and one acre 
whereon he now lives, the Potash laboratory, and one acre of 
land with it; also the farm which he holds by deed from me, 
all free from rent during his natural life, except the quit rent. 

To Mr. William Byrne, of Kingsborough, I give the lot of 
land whereon he now lives and improvements; also that part 
of the stock of cattle which was mine, free of rent or demand, 
as long as he lives, the quit rent excepted. 

I also will and bequeath to Mr. Patrick Daly, now living 
with me, for whom I have a particular regard, the sum of one 
hundred pounds current money of New York, to be paid unto 
him within three months after my decease, by my executors. 
It is also my will and desire that all the white servants I may 
have at the time of my death be made free and receive from 
my son ten pounds each. 

I also devise and bequeath unto my much esteemed friend 
and old acquaintance, Joseph Chew, Esq., now of Kings- 
borough, in the county of Try on, during his natural life, fifty 
acres of land, which I purchased from Matthias Link, with all 
the buildings and other improvements thereon belonging; 
and after his decease, to his son William, my god-child, and 
to his heirs forever. In case of the death of my said god-son 
William without issue, then to be possessed and enjoyed by 
Joseph Chew, junr., elder brother of my said god- son William, 
and his heirs forever, I also devise and bequeath unto the said 
Joseph Chew, Esq., two hundred acres of land in the patent 
called Preston's, now Mayfield, to be laid out in one piece next 
to the lots already laid out by John Collins, Esq., for the 
township; the same two hundred acres with all the appur- 
tenances thereto belonging, to be by him, the said Joseph 
Chew and his heirs, forever peaceably and quietly possessed 
and enjoyed. 

It is also my will and desire, that in case my son Sir John 
Johnson should (which God avert) die without issue, the 
following disposition be made of the personal and real estate, 
which is by the foregoing part of this will bequeathed to him, 



158 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

to wit: all the lands of Kingsborough, containing about fifty 
thousand acres, the few lots excepted which I have otherwise 
disposed of, to be by my grandson William Claus, and the 
heirs of his body, quietly and peaceably possessed and enjoyed; 
also twenty thousand acres of the Royal Grant, now called 
Kingsland, which is never to be sold or alienated from my 
family. 

It is likewise my will and desire, that in the above case, viz., 
of my son's death without issue, that the lands, house, &c., at 
Fort Johnson, and a small tract on the opposite side of the Mo- 
hawk River, called Babington's,togeth:!r with twenty thousand 
acres of the Royal Grant, now called Kingsland, be possessed 
and enjoyed by the first male heir which my daughter Mary 
Johnson may have by Guy Johnson, and by his heirs lawfully 
begotten forever; and in case of her having no male heir to 
possess it, then it is my will that the before-mentioned lands 
be equally divided between her daughters and their heirs, in 
consideration of which my two sons-in-law, Daniel Claus and 
Guy Johnson, shall (within a year) pay unto my executors and 
trustees for the use of my children by Mary Brant, my house- 
keeper, the sum of eight hundred pounds current money of 
New York: that is to say, Colonel Daniel Claus shall pay the 
sum of five hundred pounds, and Colonel Guy Johnson the 
sum of three hundred pounds, which sums are to be (as well 
as the rest devised and bequeathed to them), put out to in- 
terest for their support and emolument until they come of age 
or marry, when equal division is to be made by their guardians 
or trustees. All the remainder of my son's estate, except what 
remains of his share in the Royal Grant alias Kingsland, shall 
be sold by my executors to the best advantage, and the 
moneys arising from the sale thereof to be equally divided 
between my brothers and sisters as before named, the re- 
mainder of his share in Kingsland to be equally divided be- 
tween his two sisters' children, who are never to dispose of it. 

Lastly, I do hereby make, constitute and appoint my be- 
loved son Sir John Johnson, Kt., my two sons-in-law. Daniel 
Claus and Guy Johnson, Esqs., my two brothers John and 
Warren Johnson, Esqs., Daniel Campbell, of Schenectady, 



Will of Sir William Johnson 159 

John Butler, Nelles Fonda, Captain James Stevenson, of 
Albany, Robert Adams, Samuel Stringer of Albany, Doctor 
John Dease, Henry Frey and Joseph Chew, Esqs., or any six 
of them, executors of this, my last Will and testament. And 
it is also my will and desire that John Dease, Nelles Fonda, 
John Butler, James Stevenson, Henry Frey and Joseph Chew, 
Esqs., be and act as guardians and trustees of my before- 
mentioned eight children by Mary Brant, my present house- 
keeper, in full confidence that from the close connection of the 
former, and the long uninterrupted friendship subsisting be- 
tween me and the latter, they will strictly act as brothers, and 
inviolably observe and execute this my last charge to them; 
the strong dependence on, and expectation of which unbur- 
thens my mind, allays my cares, and makes a change the less 
alarming. And as I would willingly, in some measure, (al- 
though trifling) ; testify my regard and friendship for the above 
mentioned gentlemen, I must request their acceptance of 
three hundred pounds currency to purchase rings as a memento 
for their once sincere friend, which sum is to be immediately 
paid to them by my son. Sir John Johnson. And I do hereby 
revoke, disannul and make void all former wills, bequests and 
legacies by me heretofore at any time made, bequeathed or 
given; and I do hereby make and declare this only to be my 
last will and testament. In witness whereof I have (with a 
perfect mind and memory), hereunto set my hand and seal 
this 27th day of January, 1774, one thousand seven hundred 
and seventy-four, and my name at the bottom of each page, 
being thirteen. 

W. Johnson, (l. s.) 

Signed, sealed, published, and declared by the testator as 
and for his last will and testament, in the presence of us, who, 
by the desire and in the presence of the said testator and of 
each other, have hereunto subscribed our names. 

William Adams, 
Gilbert Tice, 
Moses Ibbit, 
Samuel Sutton, 



i6o The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

Tryon Co., ss. 

Be it remembered that on the twenty-fifth day of July, one 
thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, personally came 
and appeared before me, Bryan Lefferty, Surrogate of the said 
county, Sir John Johnson, Bart., Guy Johnson, Daniel Claus, 
John Dease, John Butler, Robert Adams and Joseph Chew, 
executors of the within written will of Sir William Johnson, 
Bart., and were duly sworn to the true execution and per- 
formance of the said will, by severally taking the oath of an 
executor as by law appointed before me, 

Bryan Lefferty, 

Surrogate. 
Tryon Co., ss. 

Be it also remembered that on the twenty-fifth day of July, 
one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, William Adams, 
Gilbert Tice, Moses Ibbit, and Samuel Sutton, all of 
Johnstown and county aforesaid, being duly sworn on their 
oaths, declared: That they and each of them did see Sir 
William Johnson, Bart., sign and seal the within written 
instrument, purporting to be the will of the said Sir William 
Johnson, bearing date the twenty-seventh day of January, 
one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, and heard him 
publish and declare the same as and for his last will and 
testament. That at the time thereof he, the said Sir William 
Johnson, was of sound, disposing mind and memory, to the 
best of the knowledge and belief of them the deponents. And 
that their names, subscribed to the said will, are of their re- 
spective proper hand-writing, which they subscribed as wit- 
nesses to the said will in the testator's presence. 

Bryan Lefferty, 

Surrogate. 




A Corner of Old Guv Park. 



CHAPTER XIII 

GENEALOGY OF THE JOHNSON FAMILY 

I. William Johnson, Esq. [afterwards knight and baro- 
net], was born at Smith Town, County Meath, Ireland, and 
subsequently adopted by his maternal uncle, Admiral Sir 
Peter Warren, K. B., capturer of Louisburg, &c., and went out 
with him to North America, where he rose to the rank of 
colonel in the British army, Major-General of the provincial 
forces and [or] of the militia, i6th April, 1783, and distin- 
guished himself as a military commander during the French 
[American] War [1754-63], and as a negotiator with Indian 
tribes. He was created a baronet 27th Nov., 1755. I^ ^756 
he received his commission as "Colonel, Agent and Sole 
Superintendent of all the affairs of the Six Nations and other 
Northern Indians," "with no subordination but to Loudon 
[London?]." He died nth July, 1774, of chronic malignant 
dysentery, aged 59, at his seat, Johnson Hall, Tryon County, 
New York, leaving by Catherine Wisenberg [Weissenberg?], 
his wife: 

I. John, his heir. 
II. Anne, married to Col. Daniel Claus, of North 

America, and died about 1798. 
Ill, Mary, married to Col. Guy Johnson, and had two 
daughters: i. Mary, wife of Field Marshal Lord 
Clyde, queller of the East India mutiny, originally 
Sir Colin Campbell, and mother of Gen. Sir Guy 
Campbell; 2. Julia. 
The son and heir of Sir William Johnson, Bart.: 

II. Sir John Johnson, of Johnson Hall, Tryon (afterwards 
Fulton) County, N. Y., finally of Mount Johnson, Montreal; 
colonel of regiment of horse in the northern district of New 

161 



1 62 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

York, in 1773; Major-General of the militia belonging to the 
same portion of the province after the decease of his father; 
lieut.-col. commanding the loyal or provincial "King's Royal 
Regiment of New York," otherwise "The Queen's Loyal New 
Yorkers " or " Johnson's regiment of Queen's Royal Greens"; 
colonel, B. A., 21st October, 1782; Brigadier-General of the 
provincial troops, &c., 14th March, 1782; superintendent-gen- 
eral and inspector-general of the Six Nations of Indians and 
their confederates, of all the Indians inhabiting the province 
of Quebec and the frontier, i6th September, 1791 [a copy of 
Sir John's commission]; colonel-in-chief of the six battalions 
of the militia of the eastern townships of Lower Canada. He 
was knighted at St. James's, London, 22d Nov., 1765. [On the 
death of his father. Sir William [I.], Sir John positively refused 
to accept the succession to the former's dignities and offices in 
connection with the Indians, and they were conferred upon his 
cousin, Guy Johnson, who exercised them throughout the Rev- 
olutionary War, and thus Sir John and Col. Guy have often 
been confounded, to the disadvantage of Sir John. Sabine 
says, " Col. Guy Johnson's intemperate zeal for his royal mas- 
ter caused the first affray in that [Try on] county."] Sir John 
married, 30th June, 1773, Mary, daughter of Hon. John Watts, 
Senior, Esq., sometime President of the King's Council of New 
York, and by her (who died 7th August, 1815) he had issue: 
I. William, lieut.-col., born 1775; married, in 1802, 
Susan — an extraordinary beauty — daughter of 
Stephen de Lancey, Governor of Tobago, and sister 
of Sir William de Lancey, K. C. B., " Quartermaster- 
General of Wellington's army," killed at Waterloo; 
and died 1S12, leaving by her [who married, sec- 
ondly, 1815, General Sir Hudson Lowe, K, C. B., 
and died 1832] three daughters: 

1. Charlotte, married, in 1820, Alexander Count 

Balmain, Russian commissioner at St. Hel- 
ena, and died in 1824. 

2. Mary, died unmarried in 18 14. 

3. Susan, died unmarried in 1828. 
II. Adam Gordon, Illd baronet. 



The Johnson Family 163 

III. James Stephen, captain 28th regiment, killed at 
Badajoz, born in 1785. 

IV. Robert Thomas, drowned in Canada in 181 2. 
V. Warren, major 68th regiment, died 1813. 

VI. John, of Point Oliver, Montreal, col. commanding 
6th battalion of militia, born 8th August, 1782; 
married loth February, 1825, Mary Diana, daughter 
of Richard Dillon, Esq., of Montreal, and died 23d 
June, 1841, leaving issue: 

1. William George, successor to his uncle, and 

present (in 1882) baronet. 

2. Charles, captain Madras Artillery, born 4th 

February, 1833. 

3. James Stephen, lieut. 14th foot, born 5th 

March, 1836; killed at Barbadoes. 

4. Archibald Kennedy, bom 20th June, 1839. 

1. Maria Diana. 

2. Anne Margaret. 

3. Eliza Theresa. 

4. Mary Anne. 

VII. Charles Christopher, of Argenteuil, Canada East, 
bom 29th October, 1798: lieut. -col. in the army; 
knight of the second class of the Persian Order of the 
Lion and Sun; married, 1818, Susan, eldest daughter 
of Admiral Sir Edward Griffiths, of Northbrook 
House, Hants [Hampshire] [who took the surname 
of Colpoys], and died 30th September, 1854, leaving: 

1. William, an officer in 20th regiment, bom 28th 

May, 1 82 1, deceased. 

2. John Ormsby, captain Royal Navy; born nth 

August, 1822. 

3. Charles Turquand, bom 17th June, 1825, de- 

ceased. 

4. Edward Colpoys, bom nth August, 1855, an 

officer in the army. 
I. Maria Bowes, married, i8th June, 1867, Rev. 
Wm, Bell Christian, of Ewanrigg Hall, Cum- 
berland, and Milntown, Isle of Man. 



1 64 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

2. Mary Anne Susan. 
VIII. Archibald Kennedy, bom in 1792; married, 13th 
September, iSiS, Maria Johnson, daughter of Patrick 
Langan, Esq., of Montreal, died Sth October, 1866. 

1. Anne, married to Col. Edward Macdonnell, 

deputy quartermaster-general to the forces in 
Canada, who died in 181 2. 

2. Catherine Maria, one of the loveliest, wisest, and 

best of women, married in 1805 to Major- 
General Barnard Foord Bowes, an officer of 
unusual ability and intrepidity, who fell in the 
attack upon the forts at Salamanca, 23d June, 
1812. [See Harper's Alison, III., 476 (2), 
and note, and other authorities on the War in 
Spain]. She died at Anglesey, near Gosport, 
England, in 1850. 

3. Marianne, died ist January, 1868. 

Sir John died 4th January, 1830, and was succeeded by 
his eldest surviving son — 

III. Sir Ad.\m Gordon Johnson, lieut.-col., of the 6th 
battalion of mihtia, bom 6th May, 1781 ; who died unmarried 
2ist May, 1843, and was succeeded by his nephew, William 
George, the present (1882) baronet. 

IV. Sir William Gordon Johnson, of Twickenham, 
County of Middlesex, England, was graduated at Woolwich, 
and for the best portion of his life held a commission in the 
British army as captain of artillery, and acted in the discharge 
of various staff duties, at different posts, and once upon the 
island of St. Helena; bom 19th December, 1830; succeeded as 
IV. baronet at the decease of his uncle, in May, 1843. 

Arms. — Argent, two lions counter-rampant, supporting a 
dexter hand, gules; in chief, three estoilles of the last, and in 
bas, a salmon naiant in water, proper. 

Crest, — An arm, gules, encircled with a ducal crown, or, 
the hand grasping a sword, proper, poniard and hilt, or. 

Motto: — "A^'^c aspera tcrrent." "Difficulties do not stop 
{or deter) or dismay." " Boldness wins." 



CHAPTER XIV 

GIFT OF FORT JOHNSON — MAJOR-GENERAL J. WATTS 

DE PEYSTER 

THIS chapter, in the natural sequence of events, ap- 
pears late in the book, although in the matter of 
importance it deserves to appear at the beginning. 

The directors of the Montgomery County Historical 
Society, situated at Amsterdam, N. Y., have long 
desired to possess the first baronial mansion of Sir 
William Johnson, known since 1755 ^^ Fort Johnson. 

This old structure is situated on the Mohawk River 
about three miles from the city of Amsterdam, N. Y., 
and within two hundred feet of the New York Central 
Railroad on the north, and is plainly visible to tourists 
from the windows of the cars. 

Between 1859 and 1905 the property belonged to 
and was the home of the family of Ethan Akin, who 
died m 1897. In 1905 this property was sold, in order 
to settle the estate. In order to save the old building 
from being put to improper use the Historical Society 
above mentioned obtained an option on the property 
for sixty days by making a cash payment of five hun- 
dred dollars. Before the sixty days had elapsed, 
Major-General J. Watts de Peyster of "Rose Hill," 
Tivoli, N. Y., became interested in the preservation of 
the old mansion for family reasons, and offered to 

165 



1 66 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

piirchase Fort Johnson (price $5900) and deed it to 
the society, provided the said society would assume 
to care for and maintain the same and to install a suita- 
ble bronze tablet in the interior. The society having 
agreed to these provisions, the General proceeded to 
carry out his part of the contract and the transfer 
of the property was made on November 9, 1905. 

Suitable resolutions were engrossed and sent to the 
General and in various other ways the people of the 
city of Amsterdam have expressed their appreciation 
of his generous gift. 

Below will be found a short sketch of Major-Gen- 
eral de Peyster and some of his notable ancestors: 

John Watts de Peyster, brevet major-general, by special 
act of New York State Legislature, for "meritorious services 
rendered to the National Guard and to the United States, 
prior to and during the Rebellion." On his father's side he 
can trace back his descent under most favorable circumstances 
for six hundred years in Flanders, especially in Ghent, where 
his people continually held offices which to hold was peculiarly 
the right of those of noble or aristocratic lineage. As far back 
as the thirteenth century they suffered on account of their 
acceptance of Protestant or Reformed doctrines and were 
faithful, even to the death, to their opinions. They were 
termed Huguenots, although it is generally considered the 
term is only applicable to Frenchmen, but the de Peysters 
belonged to districts which are now French territory, con- 
stituting the "Nord" and the "Pas de Calais." On his 
mother's side. Watts, the record is equally striking and honor- 
able. The family residence was a very imposing building 
60 feet square, besides the offices, three stories high, originally 
just outside but latterly within the city limits of Edinburgh. 
The site was remarkable as affording exquisite views to the 
northwest, west and southwest. This Watts residence — still 
standing within half a century — was torn down and the site 





J. Watts de Peyster, 
From a steel engraving. 



General de Peyster 167 

and domain became the property of the Caledonian Railroad. 
John Watt, whose daughter married Sir Walter Riddel, whose 
baronetcy dated back to the reign of King David I. (twelfth 
century), was a very, remarkable city functionary and held the 
office of dean of the guilds, or deacon-convener then a most 
important position of authority and influence. When his King, 
James VI. of Scotland, was besieged in the old Tolbooth and 
the lives of himself and his court were threatened by a vicious 
mob incited by the Calvinist clergy, John Watt called his 
guilds to arms and rescued the King, and thereby saved his 
native city from the punishment of military execution. This 
brave gentleman was afterwards assassinated in revenge for 
his loyalty, instigated by the same Calvinist ministers and 
party, and his murderer escaped through their influence. His 
grandson Robert Watt emigrated to New York and for some 
unknown reason added an 5 to the name and thus became 
Watts, and at the same time the Nichols family, his wife's, 
dropped the 5 and became Nichol. 

The subject of this sketch is remarkable for the variety of 
distinguishing features which have been shown by his success- 
ful powers of practical and elegant designs, powers of research 
and composition in painting and sculpture and architecture, 
wherein, as professionals admitted, if they had listened to 
him success would have rewarded them for their attention, 
and failing to do so, they came short of success. The first 
was displayed in the membership diploma (the handsomest 
in the States) of the Holland Society, for which he received 
a m®st flattering vote of thanks or resolution ; and this power 
is also shown in his practical plans of public buildings which 
he has erected, i.e., his church as a memorial of his two 
daughters, his fireman's hall '.in memory of his two eldest 
sons, both in the village of Madalin, and his Watts de Peyster 
Home for Invalid Children in the township of Unionvale. 

The first public building in which he was interested was the 
completion of an Episcopal church at Natchitoches, which 
was the first Protestant place of worship in that district. 
When a regiment from Dutchess County, N. Y., occupied that 
city during the Red River expedition the men climbed 



1 68 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

into the belfry, and were surprised at finding a bell bearing a 
dedicatory inscription and the name of the donor, a fellow- 
countryman. During the slaveholders' rebellion the edifice 
was neglected so it had to be entirely restored, which was 
done in 1900 at the expense of General de Peyster, by whom it 
was originally completed. The General seems to have sur- 
vived almost every one with whon^ he was intimate of his asso- 
ciates of boyhood days and his school companions, and, when 
he applied to the first rector of the Maria de Peyster Memorial 
Church at Natchitoches, for interesting particulars in regard 
thereto, the answer was the Rev, Thomas Scott Bacon had 
just died. 

A short time since General de Peyster conveyed Rose Hill — 
named after his ancestral home in Scotland, above alluded 
to — ^his home near Tivoli station, to the Leake and Watts 
Orphan House at Yonkers, founded and endowed by his 
maternal grandfather, John Watts, reserving for himself the 
use of the property for life. He has just presented Fort 
Johnson, a historic family property, at Akin, N. Y., to the 
Montgomery County Historical Society. Among other bene- 
factions of the General are: A home for consumptives in 
Unionvale, Dutchess County, the first of the kind so devoted> 
which was burned; St. Paul's Training School for Boys, at 
Unionvale; established and endowed the Watts de Peyster 
Industrial Home and School for Girls, with its buildings and 
extensive grounds, at Madalin. To the city of Kearney, Neb., 
General de Peyster presented a bronze bust of his cousin 
Major-General Philip Kearney. He erected a chapel at 
Nebraska City as a memorial of his dead soldier sons — after- 
wards pulled down and the Watts de Peyster tablets trans- 
ferred to a church in Kearney. At Altoona, Pa., he finished 
a church and built a memorial parish school and parsonage 
in memory of his daughter, Maria Beata. For Franklin and 
Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa., he erected and equipped a 
very fine library building, and to the Leake and Watts Orphan 
House, at Yonkers, N. Y., he gave funds for an annex and 
added a donation of property valued at $200,000. To the 
State capitols of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey 



General de Peyster 169 

General de Peyster has presented bronzes and oil paintings of 
various distinguished relatives. He has given a most valuable 
and in some respects inestimable collection on Napoleon and 
on other subjects, comprising objects of art, bronzes, pictures, 
etc., to the library of the Smithsonian Institution, to which 
he is still adding. 

In the city of New York are several statues of heroic size 
in commemoration of historic members of his family. In 
Trinity churchyard stands a bronze statue of the General's 
grandfather, the Hon. John Watts, Jr., the last Royal recorder 
of New York; in the Bowling Green is a bronze statue 
of his famous ancestor Colonel Abraham de Peyster, a public- 
spirited citizen of the early period of Manhattan's history. 
Opposite this statue General de Peyster was himself born, 
in the old Watts residence at No. 3 Broadway, 9th March, 
182 1. No. I Broadway was built by his great-uncle the Earl 
of Cassilis. 

General de Peyster is a life member of the Royal Historical 
Society of Great Britain, honorary fellow of the Society of 
Science, Letters and Arts of London, and member of the 
Maatschappij der Nederlandsche Letterkunde of Leyden, 
Holland, etc., etc. He is of the seventh generation resident 
of the first ward, city of New Amsterdam, afterward New 
York, and the sixth born therein in the course of two centuries 
and a half, and his family's connection with Dutchess County 
has extended over seven generations. 

The General was sent to Europe in 1851 as military agent 
of the State of New York. One of the results of that com- 
mission was the establishment of a paid fire department with 
steam fire engines and the organization of the present muni- 
cipal police of New York city. In proof the General holds 
letters or certificates and testimonials from the highest 
officials. 

At the beginning of the Civil War General de Peyster offered 
his services as Brigadier-General, with three picked regiments, 
to President Lincoln. Conditions prevented the acceptance 
of the offer, but two of his sons served with credit throughout 
the struggle, and all three of his sons were brevetted colonel 



I70 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

for services rendered before they came of age. He repeated 
his offer of troops, but it was again refused. He was reviled 
by his neighbors for suggesting the use of negroes as soldiers 
in the Civil War, and Southerners upbraided him for defending 
John Brown, but he upheld his opinions. He saved the 
Italian soldier Siro Pesci, a follower of Mazzini, from con- 
demnation to a living death in the salt mines of Sardinia and 
smuggled him from Italy into France, and subsequently to 
Switzerland. 

Both his maternal and paternal ancestors suffered greatly 
in body, person and property for their loyalty, "faithful 
even unto death," to their kings and religious beliefs in Europe 
and America, and it was only when the slaveholders' rebellion 
occurred that they had the good fortune of finding themselves 
on the winning side. It was religious persecution that drove 
the de Peysters of Flanders to seek refuge in England and 
Holland, and from the latter country the General's g.-g.-g.-g-- 
grandfather emigrated to the New Netherlands, where he 
immediately exerted influence in city offices; and his great- 
grandson, whose statue adorns the Bowling Green, opposite 
the new custom-house, on the spot where he presided as 
receiver-general of the port in 1705, held in the course of his 
long life ever}^ possible office, even that of acting governor 
under the Crown, in his native city. 



MONTGOMERY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY — RICH- 
MOND COLLECTION — HON. STEPHEN SANFORD — 
ENDOWMENT. 

On the opposite page will be seen an illustration of 
a portion of the museum of the Montgomery County 
Historical Society. As Old Fort Johnson is destined, 
in the near future, to be the home of this museum, it 
seems proper that a description of the collection of 
aboriginal relics which comprise the major part of this 
museum should appear in these pages. 




< 



< 



o 
O 



C^ 



03 



Richmond Collection 171 

As a rule historical societies are not blessed with 
large bank accotints, and the above society is no 
exception to the general rule, the highest ambition 
of its directors having been to so conduct its affairs 
as to keep it alive from year to year, doing what little 
good might come in its way by marking historic sites 
and preserving records, with an occasional social 
function during each fiscal year. 

At a little village a score of miles away from the 
city of Amsterdam, bearing the Indian name of 
Canajoharie, lived Mr. A. G. Richmond, an enthu- 
siastic antiquarian who from boyhood had been 
interested in locating Indian sites and the collection 
of aboriginal relics. As his collection grew, through 
research and by purchase, his knowledge of the uses 
of the strange stone implements that he had obtained 
grew also, until at the maturity of his manhood he 
became an authority on Indian sites both historic 
and prehistoric, and also became noted as being the 
possessor of the largest and finest collection of Indian 
articles of warfare and the chase, and various domestic 
utensils of the Amerinds, to be found in the Mohawk 
Valley. 

Unfortunately Mr. Richmond died, in the full 
vigor of his manhood, mourned by many loving 
friends, and regretted by his colaborers in this 
fascinating field of research. Fortunately, however, 
for antiquarians he had prepared, in manuscript, a 
valuable catalogue of the twenty- two thousand articles 
comprised in his collection, with most complete details 
of the uses of these articles, the place where found, 
and other information valuable to students in this 
branch of historic research. 



172 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

Many looked with longing eyes and coveted the 
possession of these rare articles, but none more 
eagerly than the president of this association, J. H. 
Hanson. I know not what trick of alchemy, what 
persuasive power, what nimbleness of tongue, was 
used, but suddenly, and as unexpectedly as the glare 
of the lightning flash from a cloudless sky, it was 
announced that gold had been given to purchase the 
coveted Richmond collection. 

A man whom all delight to honor, a gentleman 
whom it is a pleasure to meet, a scholar with mind 
stored with a rare fund of information and a delight- 
ful manner of imparting the same, a man with a gen- 
erous and beneficent heart and well-filled coffers, 
Hon. Stephen Sanford, had again given of his wealth 
to assist a struggling society. 

More surely than "storied urn or animated bust" 
will his many acts of beneficence perpetuate his name 
to generations yet unborn, a name inseparably con- 
nected with the history and prosperity of the city of 
Amsterdam. Other evidences of his interest in his- 
tory and historic sites and kindness to the society of 
which he is an honorary member are his material as- 
sistance in the renovation of Old Fort Johnson, and 
in publising that valuable book entitled Minutes 
of the Committee of Safety of Tryon County. But the 
crowning act is the endowing of this historic building 
with a sufficient sum to perpetuate it and care for it 
until its time-worn timbers cease to exist and its 
stone walls crumble to dust. 

The total amount given the society up to date 
by Mr. Sanford is $21,600, as follows: 




Hon. Stephen Santord. 



Richmond Collection 173 

Endowment ....... $15,000 

Richmond Collection ..... 5, 000 

To publish book ...... i ,000 

Renovation of Fort Johnson .... 600 

$21,600 



CHAPTER XV 

LAND grants: ROYAL, KIXGSBOROUGH, SACANDAGA — 
JOHNSON HALL 

THE theme of this book being "Old Fort John- 
son," it was my intention to confine myself to 
the history of the old building on the Mohawk River ; 
but there have been so many mistakes made by early 
■^^Titers, and such a confusion in the minds of many 
in regard to the location of the two homes of Sir 
William Johnson, that it seems necessary to give 
more than a cursory allusion to the second baro- 
nial mansion of Sir William, located at Johnstown 
and knowTi as Johnson Hall. The Tryon map of 
1779 shows large tracts of land that belonged to 
his estate situated west, north and south of Fort 
Johnson, the most notable being the Kingsland patent 
of forty thousand acres located between East and 
West Canada creeks. It is said that the tract of 
land between the creeks mentioned in the patent 
really contained ninety-three thousand acres in- 
stead of forty thousand as mentioned in the Kings- 
land or Royal grant. 

It is laiown that the Baronet's possessions in the 
vicinity of Fort Johnson on the Mohawk were some- 
what limited on accoimt of earlier gi*ants of land 
issued to other parties, the Caughnawaga, Hansen, 
and Butler grants crowding him on the west and 

174 




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Land Grants 175 

the Kayaderosseros patent on the east. In fact the 
only land he owned on the north bank of the Mohawk 
he bought at second hand, the Guy Park square mile 
having been originally granted (Dec. 12, 1727) to 
Henry Hoofe and known as the Hoofe patent, and 
the balance of his estate surrounding Fort Johnson 
was granted to Wilson and Abeel February 22, 1706, 
and comprised about two thousand acres of land, 
more or less. John Abeel, one of the patentees, was 
the father of the celebrated half-breed Corn-Planter, 
whose mother is said to have been a daughter of a 
Seneca chief. 

John Abeel is spoken of in the Colonial Documents 
as an Albany trader. He seems to have traded prin- 
cipally with the Senecas, exchanging rum, and other 
commodities coveted by the Indians, for peltries. 
That he was a rover, a coureur du bois, seems to be 
true, but tiring of his roving life he married a white 
woman named Mary Knouts, settled on land about 
a mile west of Fort Plain, and became a farmer. He 
spent the remainder of his days on this farm. Simms 
tells a story which he tenns ''Captivity of John 
Abeel": 

During the invasion of the Canajoharie settlement, as it was 
then called, in August, 1780, when John Abeel was about 56 
years old, he was captured by a party of Brant's Indians and 
taken to the fiats between his house and the Mohawk River. 
It is believed that Corn-Planter, who was with Brant, did not 
know of his father's captivity under several hours. 

During the afternoon Abeel's captors came up with an- 
other party of Indians, whom Abeel addressed in their own 
language, which he spoke fluently, inquiring what they meant 
to do with him. This led to the inquiry where he had learned 



176 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

the Indian language, and also his name. These facts being 
made known in camp, Abeel was at once confronted by a chief 
of commanding figure and appearance, who addressing him 
said: " You, I understand, are John Abeel, once a trader among 
the Senecas. You are my father ! My name is also John Abeel 
or Gy-ant-wa-chia, the Corn- Planter. I am a warrior and have 
taken many scalps. You are now my prisoner, but you are 
safe from all harm! Go with me to my home in the Senecas' 
country and you shall be kindly cared for. My strong arm 
shall provide you with corn and venison. There my mother 
awaits you. But if you prefer to go back among your pale- 
face friends, you shall be allowed to do so, and I will send an 
escort of trusty Senecas to conduct you back to Fort Plain." 
The parent chose to return, and early in the evening an escort 
of Seneca braves left him near the fort. His house had been 
destroyed and was not rebuilt until the close of the war. 

A few years afterwards Abeel developed insanity 
and became incompetent to manage his farm, but 
at first did not develop any violent mania. Some- 
what later he had some words with one of his negro 
slaves, and, becoming violently angry, went into his 
house, obtained a gun and, returning to the field, shot 
the negro through the head, killing him instantly. 

An attempt was made by the neighbors to arrest 
him, but being threatened with the gun they desisted. 
He was, however, subsequently arrested, but it was 
decided that, "as he was insane and that the negro 
was his own property, and he amenable to no one 
for his value, he should be confined." 

A room was prepared in his own house and he was 
chained to the floor, where at times he would make 
night hideous by clanking his chains and executing 
a war dance. Some years later, in his old age, he 
became harmless and was allowed to wander about 




^ 



o 



o 

O 



Land Grants 177 

his farm, and finally met his death by being gored by 
a vicious bull. 

The Kingsborough patent was granted to Arent 
Stevens and others on June 23, 1753, and comprised 
twenty thousand acres, while the Sacandaga patent 
of twenty- eight thousand was granted to Lendert 
Gansevoort mtd others December 2, 1741. 

During the early years of the settlement of the 
colony of New York, grants of prodigious size were 
obtained by single individuals or small companies, 
but the attempted steal of the immense tract of land 
comprised in the notorious Kayaderosseros patent 
aroused Indians and white settlers alike, and a law 
was passed prohibiting the transfer of more than a 
thousand acres to one person. This however, did 
not prevent an individual from obtaining large tracts 
of land by forming companies oi. say, the purchaser 
or purchasers and as many dummies or paper men as 
there were thousands of acres m the tract of land 
desired. 

That the Kingsborough and Sacandaga patents 
were obtained in this way there is no doubt, and that 
these tracts ultimately became the property of 
William Johnson is a well-known fact. 

Here was room to expand, here was an opportunity 
to carry out the scheme of his heart smce he had been 
created baronet — the establishment of a barony 
with manor house and nimierous tenantry. 

Already farms had been taken up on the Sacandaga 
patent and probably a nucleus of a settlement estab- 
lished before the building of Johnson Hall in 1762- 
1763, as a rude church was erected and a grave- 



1 78 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

yard started (?) as early as 1 760. This seems to have 
been a rude affair, constructed of wood, with large 
door on one side as was usual in all of the wooden 
churches of that period that Sir William was instru- 
mental in building. It is said that this old wood 
structure, being inadequate in size for the growing 
hamlet, was torn down in 1771 and the foundation 
of a stone church begun on the southwest comer of 
the lot. After the walls were raised several feet the 
plan was changed and a new site selected, being the 
lot on which St. John's church now stands. In 1836 
this structure was burned and was replaced by the 
present building, although the position on the lot 
was changed at right angles with the pld church, 
which ran north and south, with an entrance on 
Church Street, whereas St. John's of to-day stands 
east and west with entrance on North Market Street. 

Johnson Hall was built of wood, and as originally 
constructed bore a striking resemblance to Mount 
or Fort Johnson on the Mohawk in everything ex- 
cept the material used, Mount Johnson being con- 
stracted of stone, while Johnson Hall was built of 
wood, the clapboards being arranged to simulate 
stone blocks with bevelled edges. 

There was the same wide hall and open staircase 
leading to an attic ; each story was divided into four 
rooms, two large square and two long narrow rooms, 
and the use of panelled walls and wainscoting 
although not to as great extent as at Fort Johnson. 
The site of each building was bordered on the east 
by a creek and in each case the buildings were located 
low on a wide expanse of meadow or flat lands. 




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O 



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03 



Land Grants 179 

Each building had its kitchen and servants' 
quarters outside, built of stone, and in each case the 
lawn in front was dotted with the locust and the 
lilac. So little taste or originality was displayed in 
Johnson Hall that it would seem as though it 
were a temporary structure, one to be replaced by a 
mansion commensurate with his title and his enor- 
mous wealth. At the present time the building has 
been so changed from its original plain design, so 
improved, when looked at from the standpoint of 
the twentieth century, so marred and disfigured, 
from the colonial point of view, that it cannot be 
recognized from the cuts that were made before 
changes were made. 

How often the march of time and the requirements 
of wealth and trade make it necessary to change the 
appearance or to efface from the face of the earth all 
track, trace or remembrance of old buildings that 
become dear to memory as they grow old and fall 
into decay. The memories are often lasting to the 
surviving generation that, perhaps, were born and 
reared within its walls. Such persons will lend an 
attentive ear to matters pertaining to an old edifice 
and be in sympathy with efforts made to perpetuate 
the memory in records of history. Others are some- 
what indifferent and are willing to leave the task to 
some one else. We go across the seas to see ancient 
castles and cathedrals and look with wonder at their 
time-worn walls and records, and return to look on 
with indifference when some old landmark in our own 
country is ruthlessly destroyed to make room for a 
structure more to the taste of young America. 



i8o The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

Johnson Hall in its present state is an attractive 
mansion, both the exterior and interior showing 
evidence of the wealth and refinement of the present 
owners, but to an antiquary, to a historian, or rather 
one interested in all the history there is to the valley 
of the Mohawk and the adjacent country, there is a 
feeling of disappointment and regret that this build- 
ing should have been modernized by the addition of 
piazzas, bay windows, cupola, and sundry changes 
in the decorations of the interior. 

It is surprising, in view of the manifold points of 
historic interest existing in the vicinity of Johnson 
Hall, that the citizens of Johnstown have not mani- 
fested greater zeal in the early history of this pioneer 
village with all of its associatipns connected with the 
mature life of Sir William Johnson. I presume that 
it is owing, probably, to the traditions that have 
survived "the times that tried men's souls," when the 
passions of men were aroused in that cruel fratricidal 
warfare when families, even, were divided into Tories 
and patriots, and where, as at Oriskany, brothers 
and neighbors fought and met death with knives 
buried in each other's bodies or rigid fingers clasped 
around each other's throats. It is said that the "evil 
men do lives after them, but the good is often interred 
with their bones." The feeling of rage against the 
Johnson family, to whom was attributed all of the 
horror of Indian warfare, survived for a century, 
and the silly gossip of that period, recorded in the 
early books of J. R. Simms and others, has perpetu- 
ated senseless scandal which have in a measure in- 
jured the character of a truly great man in the very 




The Mohawk in the Chilly Grasp of Winter. 



Land Grants iSi 

place he should be most venerated, the Mohawk 
Valley. 

But a change has come o'er the spirit of their 
dreams, thanks to two or three vigorous historical 
societies that in the last two decades have produced 
great results. In addition to Johnson Hall, Johns- 
town has many interesting buildings of historic value 
— the court-house, jail. Drum house, St. John's 
Episcopal chiirch, all built originally by Sir William, 
and his grave in St. John's churchyard. All of these 
have been treated at length in a former volume. 

The recent erection of a fine granite statue of Sir 
William, by the Aldine Society, in the small park at 
the junction of Hall Avenue and West State Street, 
shows that the historic sentiment had but slumbered 
and needed but the enthusiastic, strenuous, and united 
action of the Aldine Society to awake it to life. It 
is hoped that the historical societies of Johnstown 
will not cease their eflorts until, either by gift, be- 
quest, or purchase, they become the owners of Johnson 
Hall and sufficient land surromiding it to constitute 
a public park.' 

' Since the paragraph was put in print, Johnson Hall has become 
the property of New York State, which I assume will be guarantee 
for its perpetual preservation. 



CHAPTER XVI 

SUMMER RAMBLES SCHOHARIE CREEK FROM SOURCE 

TO ITS OVERFLOW SKELETONS OF ABORIGINES — 

PHOTOGRAPHING THE FOREST AND LAKE SCENERY 
— A BOULDER THAT WALKED AWAY — HISTORIC 
CHARACTERS OF TRIBES HILL 

IN the Catskill Mountains, a few miles northwest of 
the Kaaterskill, and at an elevation of about four 
thousand feet, one of many springs flows from the 
mountain side in a tiny rivulet, which soon unites 
with other small streams and goes bounding and 
dashing through dark and tangled ravines, sometimes 
lost to sight in dense vegetation, again visible in 
foaming cascades. Ever descending, it winds its 
tortuous course to the north, gathering other streams 
in its embrace, until these nameless rivulets lose the 
designation of "kills" and are dignified with the 
Indian name "Schoharie" Creek. Still turbulent it 
dashes on through Schoharie County, ever descend- 
ing, ever widening, unharnessed, except in a primitive 
way, tapping the Helderbergs, draining the Appala- 
chian foothills, through w^hich it flows until it attains 
the dignity of a river, and a hundred miles from the 
source forms a junction with the historic Mohaw^k, at 
the prehistoric village of Ti-o-non-de-ro-ga, known, 
since 171 2, as Fort Hunter. 




1) 






3 









Summer Rambles 183 

During the latter part of the winter of 1903-04 this 
stream gave renewed evidence of its turbulency by 
pouring great floods, mingled with ice and snow, into 
the ice-bound Mohawk, forming a gorge below its 
mouth, endangering a suspension bridge across the 
Mohawk at Fort Hunter, flooding the extensive flats 
at this point, and altering the course of the Mohawk so 
that a section of the Erie Canal, about a mile long, 
w^as practically destroyed. 

After the warm weather of spring had cleared the 
watercourses of the acctimulation of water and ice, 
work was begun to put the Erie again in commission, 
and a thousand men and hundreds of wagons were soon 
at work filling in the "break" with earth from the 
surrounding hills and flats. It may be well to state 
that this section of New York State was formerly the 
home of the Mohawks of the Six Nations, and proba- 
bly for many centuries the home of tribes of the Al- 
gonquin Indians. 

During the necessary excavations human bones were 
unearthed, but, except in a few instances, did not seem 
of any significance to the numerous laborers, imtil 
the many bones uncovered attracted the attention of 
a limited number of persons who were familiar with 
the early history of this section of New York State. 

In the early part of May, however, as many as six 
skeletons were imcovered, three of which were nearly 
complete. Around the neck of one were the remains of 
a necklace of wampum, which was estimated to con- 
tain about two thousand beads, which in the scramble 
that ensued among the Italian workmen were widely 
distributed or entirely lost, with the exception of 
about three hundred, that were obtained by Foreman 



i84 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

Martin J. Hartley, who also secured the skeleton. An- 
other collection of bones in a fair state of preservation 
was secured by N. Burton Alter, of Fort Hunter. 

The third skeleton, secured by the writer, was more 
complete than the others and proved of great value 
on account of the finding of a portion of an Indian 
jar of large size in the grave with the bones, being 
positive evidence that the remains were those of an 
Indian, and that the place where they were imcovered 
was an ancient burial place of the Amerinds. 

Recently I again visited this spot and obtained 
photographs of the vicinity. The day, although 
warm, was one of those "rare days in June" when the 
air, the sun, the sky, the wooded hills, and the vast 
extent of flat lands tempted one to explore this en- 
chanting section of the beautiful Mohawk Valle}^ and 
to revel in the great wealth of verdure covering hun- 
dreds of acres of flat lands extending to the east 
and to the west. "Peace, peace, perfect peace," 
pervaded the spot. Nearly a mile away to the west 
the little village was scarcely visible through the 
screen of tall ekns that intercepted the view, and the 
only sound heard was the creak of the tiller of a canal 
boat, and the clang of the bell of a hidden schoolhouse. 
To the south were wooded hills and north the Mohawk 
River,while midway the sluggish flow of the Erie Canal 
shone like a ribbon of burnished silver in the noonday 
Sim. At our feet lay a small lake, half covered with 
green rushes and bordered with shrubs and low trees 
covered with the dense foliage of leaves in the luxu- 
riance of full maturity. 

Screening the Mohawk from view was an elevation 
of about twenty feet, and two acres in extent, covered 



Summer Rambles 185 

with a grove of large forest trees. A new road through 
the edge of this grove led to one of the excavations 
that had been made in repairing the canal. This was 
the spot where the greatest number of bones were 
found. 

One of the pictures taken was a view of the small 
lake in close proximity to the knoll. In selecting a 
point of view for this picture, the Professor wandered 
up and down the margin of the lake, and at last set his 
tripod down in front of me near the shore. I was 
barely conscious of an object in the grass, within a 
couple of feet from my position, which I had taken to 
be a good-sized boulder. An exclamation from my 
friend centred my attention, and the object was seen 
to heave, and I became aware that my boulder was an 
immense turtle, whose huge bulk was half concealed 
in the high grass. "Shall I turn it on its back?" I 
asked the Professor. "Do you think you can?" was 
the response. Reaching down I grasped the off side 
of the shell ; out came four great legs armed with sharp 
claws about an inch in length, while the horrid reptil- 
ian head, as large as my wrist, reached for my hand 
and I dropped the ponderous body, which with an 
awkward movement sped down the sharp incline 
and disappeared in the lake in a muddy cloud which 
marked its course and at the same time concealed its 
destination. Not till then did I realize that I had 
had in my grasp a monster turtle that had eluded 
capture for many months. "It is a fortunate thing 
for you," said the Professor, "that that wide mouth 
did not catch your fingers, because, as the old say- 
mg has it, 'a turtle never looses its hold until it 
thunders.' " 



i86 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

Having obtained our quest, but lost the turtle, we 
turned our steps homeward, which in this case was 
away from home, in order to reach a bridge and make 
a visit to Tribes Hill, pleasantly situated on a large 
plateau about two hundred feet above the Mohawk 
River. 

The earliest record that I can find of Tribes or 
"Trips" Hill, as it is called on the Try on map of 1779, 
is a grant of two thousand acres of land in the town 
of Mohawk to "Hendrick Hansen and his son Hans" 
dated 1713. The first settlers are said to have been 
respectable yeomen, being the family of Nicholas 
Hansen, who emigrated from Albany about 1725. His 
son, Frederick, is said to have been the first white 
child bom on the north side of the Mohawk River in 
this vicinity. Other settlers came in 1728, a New 
Englander named Bowen, and Victor Putman from 
Schenectady. With the assistance of Dewitt C. Put- 
man and Pearson's history of the Schenectady patent 
I am able to trace the genealogy of the Putman fam- 
ily back to Jan Putman, Goor, Holland, bom probably 
in the latter part of the sixteenth century. A story 
is told which deals with the descendants of the two 
pioneers : 

It is said that conspicuous among the Tories who 
accompanied Sir John Johnson in his raid in the Mo- 
hawk Valley on May 20, 1 780, were Henry and William 
Bowen, who were active in the massacre of their neigh- 
bors on that awful night. The most zealous Whig at 
the "Hill" was Garret Putman, a great-grandson of 
the original settler, Victor Putman, and captain of 
a company of rangers. He had rendered himself 
particularly obnoxious to the British and Tories as a 




1^ 



^ 

X 



'^ 



o 



H 



O 



Summer Rambles 187 

fearless and zealous patriot. On May 18, 1780, two 
days before the stealthy attack of Sir John and his 
Indians and Tories, he was ordered to repair to Fort 
Hunter; probably for garrison duty, as he took his 
family with him, and rented his house to two Eng- 
lishmen named William Gort and James Plateau. 
Although the sympathies of Gort and Plateau were 
with the British they had taken no active part in 
the struggle that was going on, and were therefore 
unmolested by the patriots. 

About midnight on the 20th, a party of marauders 
were stealthily approaching the dwelling-house of 
Mr. Putman. The waning moon half disclosed the 
dusky forms of the painted Indians and the half -dis- 
guised Tories, former neighbors of their helpless and 
unsuspecting victims. The crash of doors and win- 
dows as the invaders forced an entrance into their 
victims' home was made doubly terrifying mingled 
as it was with the war cry of the savages and the 
shouts of the whites as they killed and scalped the 
inmates, supposing them to be Mr. Putman and his 
son. But the dawn of the day and the vivid glare 
of burning dwellings and bams revealed the forms 
of their friends, Gort and Plateau, whom they had 
mistaken for the Putmans. The same night Henry 
Hansen was also killed. 

Many tales are told of that dreadful night, when the 
unsuspecting inhabitants of the Hill were aroused 
from their peaceful slumbers to seek safety in flight 
from the Indians and the equally cruel Tories (whose 
fiendish natures had been aroused in this ci*uel parti- 
san war by the example of the Butlers and Johnsons), 
or to meet a cruel death by tomahawks and scalping 



1 88 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

knives in the hands of these ruthless marauders. A 
story is told of the subsequent part of this raid, which 
was continued up the valley. Having destroyed the 
residence of Col. Fisher, who was scalped and left for 
dead, and his two brothers, John and Herman, killed, 
they proceeded to the house of Adam Fonda, which 
was pillaged and destroyed, and Mr. Fonda captured. 
Before the house was burned one of the Tories stole 
a large and massive copper tea-kettle, which he filled 
with butter and hid in the water under a bridge 
near by, expecting to return that way and get it, but 
the militia gathering in the rear of Sir John Johnson 
forced him to return by the way of Johnstown. After 
the war this kettle was found, and returned to the 
family of Adam Fonda, and is now in possession of 
the family of his granddaughter, Mrs. John H. Striker, 
of Tribes' Hill. 

It was for the purpose of obtaining a photograph 
of this interesting relic of the times that tried men's 
souls that we made our visit to Tribes Hill. 



CHAPTER XVII 

the early mohawk indians' idea of the 
''creation" 

I AM somewhat at a loss to select a name for the 
subject of this chapter. I dare not dignify it by 
the title of a history of the Mohawks, because a true 
history of that notable people never has been nor ever 
can be written. It is true that Colden's Five Na- 
tions, Morgan's League of the Iroquois, and School- 
craft's notes are looked upon as authority on this 
subject; but Morgan's work is in a great measure 
legendary, and altogether unsatisfying, and the same 
may be said of Colden and Schoolcraft, although the 
little that Colden has to say about the Mohawks is 
accepted as authority as far as it goes. 

As to the origin of the Mohawks, it will always 
remain a mystery. Conjecture may or may not ap- 
proach the truth, but from the fact that they had no 
written language, no records on stone or parchment 
from which we can obtain knowledge of their origin 
or early history, it is evident that our only sources 
of information are the vague traditions that have 
been transmitted orally from parent to child or from 
sachem to sachem. 

How unreliable and unsatisfactory these oral tradi- 
tions are may be noted in what is called the Iroquoian 

1S9 



iQo The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

Cosmology as translated by J. N. B. Hewitt, of 
the Bureau of Ethnology. Mr. Hewitt gives three 
versions of the "creation," the Onondaga, Mohawk, 
and the Seneca. They are practically alike, differing 
only in minor statements. The Onondaga is the 
longest and the Seneca the shortest version. I will 
give you, however, a condensed rendering of the 
Mohawk tradition; it says: 

In the sky above were man-beings, both male and female, 
who dwelt in villages, and in one of the lodges was a man and 
woman, who were down-fended, that is, they were secluded, 
and their lodge was surrounded by the down of the cat-tail, 
which was a sign that no one should approach them, nor were 
they allowed to leave this precinct. The man became ill, and 
stated that he would not get well until a dogwood tree stand- 
ing in his door-yard had been uprooted. So when his people 
had uprooted the tree he said to his wife, " Do thou spread for 
me something there beside the place where stood the tree." 
Thereupon she spread something for him there and he then 
lay down on what she had spread for him, and he said to his 
wife: " Here sit thou, beside my body." Now at that time she 
did sit beside him as he lay there. Then he said to her: "Do 
thou hang thy legs down into the abyss." For where they had 
uprooted the tree there came to be a deep hole, which went 
through the sky, and the earth was upturned about it. 

And while he lay there he recovered from his illness 
and turning on his side he looked into the hole. 
"After a while he said to his wife, 'Do thou look 
thither into the hole, to see what things are occur- 
ring there in yonder place.' And as she bent her 
body to look into the hole he took her by the nape 
of the neck and pushed her, and she fell into the 
hole and kept falling into the darkness thereof. After 
a while she passed through and as she looked about 
her, as she slowly fell, she saw that all about her 




The Author Restoring the Great Mohawk Jar. 



n 



Mohawk Legends 191 

was blue in color, and soon discovered that what 
she observed was a vast expanse of water on which 
floated all kinds of water-fowls in great numbers. 

Thereupon Loon looking into the waters and seeing 
her reflection shouted, "A man-being, a female, is 
coming up from the depths of the waters." The 
Bittern answering said, "She is not indeed coming 
up out of the depths of the water, she is falling from 
above." Thereupon they held a council to decide 
what they should do to provide for her welfare. 

They finally invited Great Turtle to come. Loon 
thereupon said to him: "Thou shouldst float thy 
body above the place where thou art in the depths of 
the water. " And then, as Great Turtle arose to the 
surface, a large body of ducks of various kinds arose 
from the face of the water, elevated themselves in 
a very compact body, and went up to meet her. And 
on their backs did she alight, and they slowly de- 
scended bearing her body on their backs, and on the 
back of Great Turtle they placed her. 

Then Loon said, "Come, you deep divers, dive 
and bring up earth. " Many dived in the water, and 
Beaver was a long time gone. When his back 
appeared he was dead, and when they examined his 
paws they found no earth. Then Otter said, "It is 
my turn." Whereupon he dived and after a longer 
time he also came up dead. Neither did he bring 
up any earth. It was then that Muskrat said, "I 
also will make the desperate attempt." It was a 
still longer time that he was under water, but after 
a while he also floated to the surface dead. In his 
paws was mud and his mouth was full of mud. And 
they took this mud and coated the edge of Great 



192 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

Turtle's shell all around, and other muskrats dived 
and floated dead, but brought up mud, which was 
placed on Great Turtle's back. And the female man- 
being sat on the back of Great Turtle and slept. And 
when she awoke the earth had increased in size, and 
she slept again, and when she awoke willows were 
growing along the edge of the water. And then, 
also, when she again awoke the carcass of a deer, re- 
cently killed, lay there, and a fire was burning, and 
a sharp stone. And she dressed, cooked, and ate 
her fill. And after a while a rivulet appeared 
and rapidly the earth increased to great size, and 
grass and herbs sprung from the earth and grew to 
maturity. 

And after a while the female man-being gave birth 
to a girl child, who grew rapidly to maturity and not 
long after gave birth to two male man-beings, but the 
daughter died in giving birth to the twins. And the 
grandmother cut off the head of her dead daughter 
and hung her body in a high place, and it became the 
sun, and the head she placed in another place and it 
became the moon. 

And when she examined one of the infants she 
found his flesh was nothing but flint and there was 
a sharp comb of flint over the top of his head, but the 
flesh of the other was in every respect like a man- 
being. 

It seems that these two were antagonistic from their 
birth, the grandmother clinging to the flint child and 
driving the other into the wilderness; and in his 
wanderings he came to the shore of a lake and saw 
a lodge standing there. Looking in the doorway he 
saw a man sitting there, who said to him, "Enter thou 



Mohawk Legends 193 

here. " This man was Great Turtle, who gave him 
bow and arrow and also gave him two ears of com, one 
in the milky state which he told him to roast and eat 
as food, and the other, which was mature, he should 
use for seed com. 

He also endowed him with preternatural powers. 
And when he was about to depart he said to the 
young man, "I am Great Turtle, I am thy parent. " 

Sapling, which was the name of the young man- 
being' created animals out of earth, and birds by cast- 
ing handfuls of earth into the air. He also formed 
the body of a man and the body of a woman and 
gave them life and placed them together. Returning 
shortly after he found them sleeping. Again and 
again he returned and still they slept. "Thereupon 
he took a rib from each and substituted the one for 
the other and replaced each one in the other's body. 
It was not long before the woman awoke and sat up. 
At once she touched the breast of the man lying 
at her side just where Sapling had placed her rib, 
and, of course, that tickled him. Thereupon he 
awoke, awoke to life and understanding. " As in the 
Biblical story of Cain and Abel, the two brothers 
fought and in the end one was slain. But it was the 
unrighteous one, the one with the flint body, who lost 
his life. 

Nearly three hundred years ago, the Jesuits re- 
corded traditions of the Algonquins and Huron-Iro- 
quois of Canada which were practically the same 
in their main features as the above. (See Jesuit 
Relations, vol. x, pages 127-129.) 

The Montagnais and Adirondacks of Canada, and 
in fact all the Algonquin nations, seem to have some 



194 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

tradition of the deluge, which, in some way is mixed 
with the Huron-Iroquois tradition of the creation. 
In fact it deals with a re-creation of the earth. 

They say that one JMessou restored the world when 
it was lost in the waters. Their story of the deluge 
is practically as follows: 

This Messou went a-hunting with lynxes instead of 
dogs and was warned that it would be dangerous for 
his lynxes in a certain lake near the place where he 
was. One day as he was hunting an elk his lynxes gave 
it chase even into the lake ; and when they reached 
the middle of it, they were submerged in an instant. 
When Messou arrived there and sought his lynxes, who 
were indeed his brothers, a bird told him that it had 
seen them in the bottom of the lake, and that certain 
animals or monsters held them there. He at once 
leaped into the water to rescue them, but immediately 
the lake overflowed, and increased so prodigiously 
that it inundated and drowned the whole earth. 

Astonished he gave up all thought of his lynxes, 
and turned his attention to creating the world anew. 
First he sent a raven to find a small piece of earth 
with which to build a new world. The raven returned 
imsuccessful. He made an otter dive down, but he 
could not reach the bottom. At last a muskrat 
descended and brovight back some earth. With 
this bit of earth Messou restored everything to its 
former condition. 

But it is among the Iroquois that Great Turtle 
plays the principal part in the creation ; in fact it is 
said that he upholds the earth to this day. 

In one of the cases of the Richmond collection 
in the museum of the Montgomery' Coimty Historical 



"Great Spirit" 195 

Society is an old rattle which can be traced back more 
than a hundred years. We have looked upon it as 
an interesting relic of the Senecas, a rude musical 
instrument. It is made from a turtle shell and skin, 
and in the enclosed space have been placed pebbles 
for rattles. 

But this instrument is interesting beyond all that. 
Father Lejune, in his Relation of 1639, makes the 
following statement in describing a dance at a feast 
given for a sick woman : 

At the head of the procession marched two masters of 
ceremonies singing and holding the tortoise, on which they 
did not cease to play. This tortoise is not a real tortoise, but 
only the shell and skin so arranged as to make a sort of drum 
or rattle. Having thrown certain pebbles into it they make 
from it an instrument like that the children in France used 
to play with. There is a mysterious something, I know not 
what, in this semblance of a tortoise, to which these people 
attribute their origin. We shall know in time what there is 
to it. 

It is said that in no Amerind (the word Amerind 
is a new word coined by the Bureau of Ethnology to 
take the place of the three words North American In- 
dian : You will notice that it is composed or formed 
from the first four letters of American and the first 
three letters of Indian) language could the Jesuit 
priests find a word to express the idea of God or His 
attributes. Although the most charitable of people 
and showing the utmost affection for their children, 
the Jesuits were unable, in the Amerind language, to 
impress upon them, or to communicate to them, the 
idea of an all-loving and charitable Supreme Being. 
They had their Manituu, but they feared them and 



196 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

gave them the character of the devil, one who should 
be propitiated by presents, by penances, or by 
scourges and feasts. 

In the Amerind's mind, each animal had a king, as 
the Great Turtle, the Great Bear, etc. The fathers 
said to them, " If the animals have each a Supreme 
Being, why should not man have a great chief of 
men, who lives in the sky — a Great Spirit?" This 
idea they accepted, and, although they did not or 
could not give him the attributes of the Christian's 
God, the Great Spirit became "a distinct existence, a 
pervading power in the universe, and a dispenser of 
justice." 

This idea the Jesuits had to accept, although in 
exceptional cases they seemed to impress their idea 
of God upon some of their converts while they had 
them at the missions, but they were sure to become 
apostates when they returned to their people in the 
wilderness. So you will see that the "Great Spirit" 
of the Indians is a modem idea received from the 
whites and not, as some think, a Supreme Being 
evolved ages ago from the Amerind mind. 

Parkman says: 

The primitive Indians believed in the immortality of the 
soul, and that skilful hunters, brave warriors, and men of in- 
fluence went, after death, to the happy hunting-groxmds, 
while the slothful, the cowardly, the weak, were doomed to 
eat serpents and ashes in dreary and misty regions, but there 
was no belief that the good were to be rewarded for moral good, 
or the evil punished for a moral evil. 

So ^T^ou will see that the writing of a histor}?" of the 
Mohawks would be an arduous task : a history filled 
with myster}' and superstition together with kindl}'' 




A Colonial Doorway, Guy Park. 



"Great Spirit'' 197 

deeds and warlike acts; a history of a people en- 
dowed with minds that were able to conceive a union 
of tribes, states, or nations, call them what you may, 
and to perpetuate that union for centuries, the suc- 
cess of which suggested to our forefathers the union of 
States, the government under which we now live. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

EPISODE AT THE SIEGE OF FORT SCHUYLER — THE 
MURDER OF THE MAIDENS 

(" And among the plunder captured by Col. Willett were two 
fresh scalps with hair smooth and neatly plaited.") 

Part I 

DURING the year 1754, and previous to the act- 
ive operr.tions of the last French war, the forts 
along the Mohawk River were garrisoned by Eng- 
lish troops, supplemented occasionally by provin- 
cial volunteers. At that time the post at Fort Himter, 
although in a dilapidated condition, had a semblance 
of a garrison in a few^ soldiers under the command of 
a young English lieutenant by the name of Robert 
Stanle}^ whose headquarters were in an old stone 
building known as Queen Anne's Chapel parsonage. 
The soldiers were quartered inside the palisade which 
enclosed the chapel, and in the chapel itself. 

Back of the parsonage to the south extended the 
primitive forest, with occasional openings made by 
settlers, partially under cultivation. To the east, 
west, and north were hundreds of acres of fiat lands 
under cultivation by the Indians and the few white 
men who constituted the settlement at Tiononderoga. 
Their nearest neighbor to the east was the family of 
Jan Wemps, and two miles away on the north bank of 

198 



An Episode of Fort Schuyler 199 

the Mohawk was the fortified home of Colonel William 
Johnson, lately named Fort Johnson by its owner. 
Scattered here and there on the flat lands and the 
neighboring hills could be seen the rude huts of 
the Mohawks, with the "long house" near the palisade, 
also enclosed in a stockade of upright logs set firmly 
in the ground. 

The parsonage was a two-story structure of rough, 
stone, with deep embrasured windows and small 
panes of glass protected by heayy wooden shutters, 
and doors guarded by huge locks with keys large 
enough for a medieval fortress. Loopholes for the 
firing of muskets were in evidence in the walls on 
every side. The interior was divided into four mod- 
erate-sized rooms above and below, scantily furn- 
ished with rude but substantial furniture. Here 
Lieutenant Stanley lived, while the household affairs 
were administered as best they could be by Indian 
women hired for that purpose. It was a lazy, in- 
active life that the Lieutenant led, its monotony 
occasionally broken by visits to the homes of the 
Johnsons, Wemps, and the Butlers, or an occasional 
trip down the Mohawk in bateau or canoe to Sche- 
nectady for supplies for the garrison. 

A year before his regiment had been hurriedly 
ordered to America he had married a beautiful and 
loving woman. Two years had passed, but the re- 
membrance of the blissful, tearful good-bye was a 
sweet memory to him in the wilderness notwith- 
standing the anguish of separation, and he looked 
forward with inexpressible longing to the coming 
June, when she would be with him again. In the 
meantime he busied himself in brightening the old 



20O The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

structure with new bits of furniture and linen for 
the household, while quick - growing vines were 
planted in order to cover the weather-stained walls 
of the gloomy dwelling. 

Part II 

June has come and with it the ship that bore the 
wife of Lieutenant Stanley, and on one of those rare 
days in this leafy month a party is embarking on a 
well-loaded bateau for a slow voyage up the Mohawk ; 
but with Mr. and Mrs. Stanley are two sturdy children, 
a boy of seven and a girl of three, whose yellow locks 
and pink and white complexion seem to indicate that 
they are of German parentage. 

Among the emigrants on board the ship which 
brought Mrs. Stanley to the shores of America was 
a frail German with his wife and two children. Be- 
fore the vessel was many days out, some of the pas- 
sengers were stricken with a virulent disease, from 
which many died, among whom were the two Germans 
spoken of above. The grief of the two children was 
pitiful, and excited the sympathy of Mrs. Stanley to 
such an extent that she assumed the care of providing 
for them in the strange country which they were ap- 
proaching. For many years it had been the custom 
for captains of ships plying between the old world and 
the new to transport emigrants without pay, with the 
understanding that upon their arrival in port their 
services should be sold to persons desiring servants, 
for a sum equalling their passage money, practically 
making the persons so sold slaves, for a period of 
years. Lieutenant Stanley, at the request of his wife, 



An Episode of Fort Schuyler 201 

purchased the children in this manner, and the boy 
and girl were indentured to him for a tenn of ten years. 

The bateau on which our party had embarked 
at Schenectady, although of generous capacity, was 
heavily loaded with supplies for Fort Johnson, and 
taxed to the utmost the strength of eight vigorous 
polemen in making headway against the strong cur- 
rent and over the numerous riffs and shallows between 
the Kinaquarione hill and Johnson's trading settle- 
ment opposite the "painted rocks." At this point, 
the boat was lightened somewhat by the passengers 
going ashore and tramping through the forests that 
fringed the bank of the river. 

With much trouble the bateau succeeded in reach- 
ing the foot of the riff near the present site of Guy 
Park ; but was unable to proceed any farther, owing to 
the shallowness of the river between this point and 
Fort Johnson. Securing the bateau to the north 
bank and leaving two of their number to watch the 
cargo, which they had protected with huge tarpaulins, 
the boat crew, having made packs of some of the 
portable articles, joined the passengers in the moon- 
light tramp along the three-mile trail to Fort Johnson. 
In due time the weary travellers came in sight of the 
beacon light in the peak of the old stone mansion, 
supplemented by numerous camp-fires in front of rude 
Indian camps on the extensive fiats in front of the 
palisaded building. 

A Mohawk runner having informed Johnson of the 
approach of the party, he was at the gate of the stock- 
ade to welcome his weary visitors. By his side were 
his two daughters, Anne and Mary, while in the rear 
of the family party stood a young woman in semi-bar- 



202 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

barous apparel. With raven black hair drawn straight 
back from her low, smooth brow and fastened in flat 
plaits on the back of her well-formed head ; features 
comely and complexion a clear olive, tinted on cheek 
and chin with the warm blood of her dusky race ; f onu 
of medium height and well rounded with beauty's 
curves on limb and neck and breast, half -veiled slum- 
brous eyes and full, crimson lips, she stood apart from 
the daughters of her lord and master, but with the 
proud and quiet demeanor that was a marked charac- 
teristic in her association with the white guests of Sir 
William in after years. Dominant and masterful, 
sensual and affectionate, there is no reason to believe 
that the Baronet ever regretted the impulse that 
caused him to select this beautiful Mohawk girl as a 
successor to his first Indian wife, Carolme, and as 
stepmother to her own cousins. 

After greeting his tired guests the servants were 
ordered to prepare refreshments for the Lieutenant 
and his wife, while a motherly black slave took charge 
of the two forlorn, motherless children. 

As commissioner of Indian affairs, Johnson was 
regarded as an important personage, and frequent 
visits to Albany and New York, as guest of the wealthy 
and powerful of those cities, made it necessary that 
his own household should be ordered on a generous 
and hospitable plan; therefore the advent of this 
British officer and his lady in no way disconcerted 
this lord of the forest lands, who regaled them with 
all the delicacies of an epicure's larder and the choice 
liquors of a well-stocked wine cellar. 

The advent of an educated English lady into the 
household of Sir William was of rare occurrence and 



An Episode of Fort Schuyler 203 

highly appreciated by the Baronet, who was assidu- 
ous in his attentions to the officer's wife; she in return 
regaled her host with news of London and the gos- 
sip of the court. Midnight, however, found his guests 
in slumber, and the early morning, passengers in In- 
dian canoes en route to their home at Fort Hunter. 

Part III 

Ten years have elapsed since the close of the last 
chapter and have brought many changes to the fam- 
ily of the Lieutenant, now Captain Stanley. Wounded 
in the French war at the battle of Lake George, the 
Captain is now an invalided soldier located at Fort 
Herkimer. During his residence at Fort Hunter, a 
daughter was bom, and cit this period is a beautiful 
child of nine years. The two German orphans spoken 
of in the last chr.pter are still members of his family, 
sharing the affection of their master, and contrib- 
uting to his material comfort niore as a son and 
daughter than bondservants. Rudolph, the boy, is 
a sturdy lad of seventeen and Therese a bright and 
loving child of thirteen, whose joys and sorrows are 
mingled with those of her foster sister Mildred. 

Life at the old stone manse had been a period of 
happiness to the young English wife, varied some- 
what by anxiety over occasional brawls between the 
English soldiers and the Mohawks, that sometimes 
threatened serious consequences, had it not been for 
the firm hand of their neighbor, Sir William Johnson. 
At last, however, an outrageous indignity offered to 
the wife of an Indian chief brought matters to a cli- 
max and made it necessary for Sir William to transfer 



204 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

the garrison to some other post and substitute a 
Colonial squad in place of British soldiers, still retain- 
ing Captain Stanley as commandant of the post. 

After the hospitable introduction into Sir William's 
family on the evening of Mrs. Stanley's arrival, visits 
were frequently exchanged between the two families, 
resulting in a firm and lasting friendship between the 
English lady and the dusky Molly Brant, and the 
comradeship of the motherless half-breeds, Caroline, 
Charlotte, and William, children of Sir William by his 
first Indian wife, Caroline, with the German wards of 
Captain Stanley. The education of Rudolph and 
Therese had not been neglected and the decade ending 
in 1765 found them well advanced in studies chosen 
by the Captain, their teacher, to fit them for the life 
they were destined to live on the frontier or in their 
battle with the world at large. 

At the age of seventeen Rudolph had grown to be 
a handsome, robust lad well versed in woodcraft and 
skill with rifle, taught him by his dusky companions 
and by experience in the forests which siirrotmded 
his chosen home on every side. The necessity of 
supplying their limited larder with animal food made 
frequent excursions into the forests imavoidable, and 
to become a skilful hunter and an expert angler was 
the ambition of the lads of the frontier settlements. 

The French war had practically ended, but the Ger- 
man Flats settlements were frequently alarmed by 
incursions of small prowling bands of Algonquins 
from Canada, making it unsafe for unarmed settlers 
to venture far into the forest without exercising 
constant vigilance to prevent being surprised by the 
wily marauders. 



An Episode of Fort Schuyler 205 

One of those beautiful days in May when nature 
seems to entice humanity to enjoy the many attrac- 
tions of stream and field and forest, two young girls 
might have been seen in a canoe, venturing,- from the 
south shore of the Mohawk River to a small island in 
mid-stream. The older of the two girls, seated in the 
bottom of the frail vessel, skilfully handled the paddle 
as she slowly propelled the frail vessel toward "the 
haven where they would be, " while in the bow reclin- 
ing, with her tiny hands trailing in the water on each 
side, was the Captain's daughter, Mildred. Beautiful 
in form and features, her dark hair clustered around 
a face ruddy with the hues of perfect health and 
strength and with all the promises of beautiful and 
intelligent womanhood. 

Therese, her companion and foster sister, is also 
fair to look upon. Straight of limb and robust in 
physique as became a forest training almost equal 
to that of her brother, she also seemed to give assur- 
ance of great physical attractions of form and face 
in early maturity. 

Drifting and paddling slowly, the girls directed 
their canoe to a little cove with shelving beach, and 
as the bow grated upon the sand were alarmed at the 
sight of two half -naked Indians who sprang suddenly 
from the bushes, grasped the canoe on each side and 
forced it, with its terrified occupants, up the sandy 
beach and into the low dense thicket of willows that 
lined the cove. Mildred uttered a wild shriek of ter- 
ror, which was quickly smothered by the rough hand 
of one of the savages, and sank into the bottom of the 
canoe, her terror-stricken face pale and drawn at the 
horror of the situation. The little German girl still 



2o6 Story of Old Fort Johnson 

grasped the paddle and gazed stolidly at her captor, 
as though she failed to comprehend the danger that 
hovered over them. With a significant touch of the 
knife at his belt the yound buck grasped the girl, at 
the same time saying, ' ' Keep still or me kill you, ' ' and 
quickly sped across the small island to the place 
where their canoe was concealed, followed by his com- 
panion carrying the limp form of Mildred and drag- 
ging the light canoe with him. Placing one of the 
girls in each canoe, they hastily covered them with 
branches of willow, threatening instant death if they 
stirred or made an outcry, and paddled their boats 
up the stream and toward the northern shore. 

The friendship existing between the members of 
Captain Stanley's household and Molly Brant and 
Sir William Johnson's family brought them in contact 
with Joseph Brant and the half-breed William John- 
son of Canajoharie castle at Danube; and after the 
removal of Captain Stanley to the Herkimer fort, 
frequent visits were exchanged between the families 
and the yoimg Indians. It so happened that on the 
morning of the capture of the two children, Rudolph 
in company with Tha-yen-da-ne-ga was returning from 
Indian Castle in a canoe, and, as they were rounding 
a piece of land a short distance below the island, dis- 
covered the Canadian Indians hastily paddling away. 

Tha-yen-da-ne-ga' s quick eye discovered the war 
paint of the savages, and at the same time recog- 
nized them as Hurons from the vicinity of Quebec; 
and Rudolph as quickly recognized Therese's canoe, 
which contained the shivering form of poor Mildred. 
Shouting the war-cry of the Mohawks, Brant with 
vigorous strokes of the paddle forced the light vessel 



An Episode of Fort Schuyler 207 

swiftly in pursuit of the fleeing Hurons, while Ru- 
dolph's rifle placed a bullet through the right arm and 
into the side of the dusky buck in Mildred's canoe, 
causing him to drop his paddle. At the report of the 
rifle, the other Huron raised his gun, and as he brought 
it to rest, and in the act of firing at the pursuers, the 
little German girl quickly threw herself out of the 
canoe on the opposite side, clinging to the frail vessel 
until she capsized it just as the Indian's gun was dis- 
charged, the bullet speeding harmlessly toward the 
zenith instead of the mark of his murderous aim. 

The two girls were expert swimmers, and as the 
Huron was floundering in the water Therese sank 
into the stream and struck out vigorously, still under 
the face of the water, towards the advancing canoe. 
The Huron soon came to the surface, still encum- 
bered with his rifle, and seizing the frail canoe, but 
keeping it between himself and his approaching 
enemies, endeavored to reach the north shore of the 
river. 

While this episode was being enacted, a similar one 
took place in the other canoe, by which the wounded 
Indian was thrown into the water and Mildred swam 
fearlessly and rapidly towards the island. Meanwhile 
the girls' canoe, floating down the stream in the direc- 
tion of the pursuers, was seized by Therese as she 
came to the surface a few rods below the place where 
she had disappeared. 

During the floundering of the Indians among the 
debris of the upturned canoes, Rudolph could not 
disecovr any trace of his sister after the quick move- 
ment that capsized the vessel in which she was 
concealed, and deeming that she had been wounded 



2o8 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

and drowned, his rage at the Hurons became intense. 

Urging Tha-yen-da-ne-ga to increased exertion he 
quickly reloaded his rifle, watching keenly the hand 
of the savage on the canoe which he was using as a 
shield, in his eft'orts to reach the north shore that he 
might escape in the thickets which lined its border. 
But his struggles were in vain, for at the instant that 
he sprang from the water's edge to his haven of 
comparative safety, the unerring bullet from Ru- 
dolph's rifle pierced his brain and he sank to the sand, 
dead. His fatally wounded companion having also 
disappeared under the waters of the Mohawk, the 
young men turned their attention toward succoring the 
recent captives, Tha-yen-da-ne-ga having discovered 
the perilous situation of Therese in mid-stream, cling- 
ing to the capsized canoe, while Mildred was seen 
lying in a state of collapse on the shore of the island. 

The report of the rifles and the war-cry of the 
Mohawks having alarmed the inhabitants of Fort 
Herkimer, boats were soon speeding to the scene of 
disturbance, and many willing hands were ready to 
offer assistance to the maidens, who proved to be 
more scared than hurt. Assistance, however, was 
given to bury the Huron deep in the sands of the 
shore, unmutilated and uncoflined. 

Stopping to pick up Therese and restore the canoe 
to buoyancy, Brant stepped into the frail vessel and 
quickly paddled to the fort, while Rudolph hastened to 
Mildred, whose dripping form was soon nestling in his 
arms, in perfect comfort and rest, notwithstanding 
the chill of her involuntary bath and the horror of 
her brief bondage in the power of the young Hurons. 

For many months Mrs. Stanley had been in a 



An Episode of Fort Schuyler 209 

precarious state of health, notwithstanding the as- 
siduous care of her husband and devoted children; 
but as the alarm of the garrison over the abduction 
of the two children was soon communicated to her, 
she succumbed to the horror of the situation and 
never recovered consciousness, but passed peacefully 
away, even amid the joy of the household over the 
rescue and return of the maidens. 

After the death of his wife. Captain Stanley, broken 
in health and broken-hearted, sent in his resignation 
to the proper authorities and prepared to take pos- 
session of a grant of land which he owned near Fort 
Stanwix (Rome), and it is here that we find him in 
1775, as farmer and successful trader, with ware- 
houses on the trail between the Mohawk and Wood 
Creek. 

Part IV 

Although situated on the frontier and a resident 
of Tryon County for more than twenty years, the 
Captain was a thorough Briton at heart and loyal to 
his king; but the sympathies of Rudolph and his 
sister Therese were with the patriots. 

We cannot, however, call the Captain an ardent 
partisan, for, broken in health and spirit and relying 
so completely on his adopted son and daughter for 
the care of his business and his household, he was 
inclined to remain neutral in the struggle for suprem- 
acy that was going on between the patriots and 
Tories, which kept old Tryon County in a state of 
turbulency and great unrest for many months. 

After the French war and during the era of peace 



210 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

that prevailed in the valley of the Mohawk subse- 
quent to that event, Rudolph, being fitted for a 
hunter by training and inclination, spent the greater 
part of the 3'ear in the wilderness, even extending 
his hunting and trading trips as far west as the Ohio 
and north and east to the valleys of the St. Lawrence 
and Lake Champlain, having at times for companions 
the Oneida half-breed Thomas Spencer, Brant (Tha- 
yendanega) , and Teg-che-un-to (William Johnson, the 
half-breed). The young German, being of great physi- 
cal strength and courage, combined with a cheerful 
disposition and manly personal beauty, made warm 
friends among the Palatine settlers and the Iroquois, 
and was worshipped as almost a god by Mildred and 
his sister Therese. These two girls had fulfilled the 
promise of their childhood, and were indeed beautiful 
in form and features. Many were the suitors that 
came to the home of Captain Stanley, but, although 
the friends of the Captain were received with kind- 
ness, none were able to make an impression on the 
hearts of the maidens. 

Their education and social standing, as daughter 
and ward of the British officer, deterred many of the 
young men of the frontier settlements from offering 
more than respectful homage to these flowers of the 
wilderness, and the advances of such men as Walter 
Butler and Sir John Johnson were earl}^ received with 
such dignity and coldness as to prevent any repetition 
of attentions other than most respectful. However, 
the friendships of childhood had continued unbroken 
between Thayendanega and Rudolph, and the more 
recent companionship with Thomas Spencer, the 
young Oneida orator, and Teg-che-im-to the half- 



An Episode of Fort Schuyler 211 

breed, made them welcome visitors to the household, 
and, in the case of Spencer and Brant, honored 
guests. Although Teg-che-un-to had been admitted 
as a friend on account of Molly Brant, the young man 
lacked many of the qualities that bound the trio 
together. His claim of superiority above the young 
people of the flats, on account of his left-handed con- 
nection with Sir William Johnson and the smattering 
of an education received at Dr. Wheelock's school at 
Lebanon, made him disliked, and his general char- 
acter made him distrusted. Therefore his reception 
during the later years was more that of suffrance 
on account of early friendship than any love of 
the members of Captain Stanley's household for the 
fellow. An unreasoning jealousy had manifested 
itself towards Spencer because of the evident pleasure 
Therese exhibited in the society of the young orator 
of the forest, on account of his evident loyalty to the 
whites of the valley, and his power to sway people, 
both denizens of the wilderness and the whites of 
the plain, by his eloquence and power of reasoning. 
It was Spencer, with the help of Dominie Kirkland, 
that held the Oneidas to neutrality during the strug- 
gle of the patriots for independence and assisted ma- 
terially in the campaign that turned back St. Leger's 
hordes to Canada after the unsuccessful siege of Fort 
Schuyler. The rupture between the two half-breeds 
finally took place in the spring of 1777, when Tegche- 
unto declared his love for Therese and urged that 
she and Mildred should seek protection with the John- 
sons at Johnstown. This proposition was rejected by 
them, and they accepted Spencer's advice to take 
refuge in Fort Schuyler from the advance of St. 



212 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

Leger's ami}^ That Spencer loved Therese had been 
apparent to Rudolph and Mildred for many months, 
and that Therese also loved the 3''oung orator was 
known to the twain even before the young girl was 
willing to acknowledge that her desire for his society 
was any stronger sentiment than that of friendship. 

To Rudolph it seemed as though his . love for 
Mildred had no beginning, that he had always loved 
her. But when in the silence of the forest primeval 
his thoughts turned to her he knew his passionate, 
worshipful love sprang to life when he clasped her 
dripping form to his breast on the island in the mid- 
stream and felt her chilled arms aroimd his neck 
as he murmured "M}' sweetheart, my love." The 
awakening of Mildred, however, came to her in her 
young womanhood, when, on her seventeenth birthday 
and after an unusually long sojourn in the wilderness, 
Rudolph returned and met her with a kiss and swift 
embrace. Then, holding her before him, he looked 
into her dear eyes and at last found what he had sought 
for since childhood, the answering, longing love light. 
It was then, clasped in his anns, that she had met his 
lips with a clinging, tremulous kiss that told liim of the 
"awakened love that filled her ver}^ being. " 

Part V 

Two 3^ears have passed, and in the spring of 1777 
we find Rudolph enrolled in Colonel Dayton's troops 
stationed at Fort Dayton, Brant and Tegcheimto in 
Canada, and Thomas Spencer stirring up the patriots 
of the Mohawk Valley with the news of the gathering 
of St. Leger's army at Three Rivers for the proposed 
expedition against Fort Schuyler. 



Killing of the Maidens 213 

It was at this time that Spencer advised and urged 
Captain Stanley and the two maidens to take refuge 
in Fort Schuyler from the murderous hordes of St. 
Leger. The Captain refused to leave his station, but 
urged and at last commanded the girls to accept the 
proposition of the young Oneida, saying that, as for 
him, he was as safe in the camp of the British as in the 
American fort. 

On April 17 and May 3, 1777, troops tmder Colonel 
Gansevoort began to arrive at the fort, and on May 
28th the remainder of the regiment, under Colonel 
Willett, making the number of the garrison seven 
hundred strong ; most of whom were soon employed 
in strengthening the defences and otherwise pre- 
paring for the reception of the enemy, who were said 
to be gathering on the south shore of Lake Ontario 
near Oswego. With Colonel Willett' s troop came 
Rudolph. 

Alarmed at the various nmiors of the gathering 
of the forces of the English and the barbarity of In- 
dians, who with their families constituted the major 
part of the expedition of St. Leger, many non-com- 
batants'f ound refuge inside of the fortifications, among 
whom were a woman and two children, the eldest 
being a bright young girl of sixteen, named Nellie 
Earle. Mildred, Therese, and Nell soon became in- 
separable companions and leaders in many innocent 
sports that were inaugurated to enliven the tedium of 
the limited quarters that constituted their temporary 
abode. Accustomed as the trio were to frontier life, 
one of their chief pleasures was in morning rambles 
outside of the fortification but within the line of out- 
sentinels or pickets that encircled the fort, closely 



214 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

watching for evidence of the approach of the enemy. 

The siege of Fort Schuyler and the attendant battle 
of Oriskany, together with the battle of Bennington, 
which turned the tide of war and led on to the defeat 
and surrender of General Burgoyne's anny at Sara- 
toga, are well known to students of history, but it may 
be well to outline the situation of affairs in the Mohawk 
Valley at the period of which I am writing, July 27, 
1777. 

General Herkimer, with the assistance of Thomas 
Spencer, had succeeded in arousing the patriots of the 
Mohawk Valley to the gravity of the situation, and 
was rapidly gathering the hardy yeomanry of the 
frontier at Fort Dayton for the relief of Fort Schuyler, 
which was threatened with investment and capture 
by St. Leger, whose army was slowly advancing from 
Oswego. With the British forces under command 
of Colonel Barry St. Leger were a detachment of Brit- 
ish regulars, a band of Tories under Sir John John- 
son and Colonel John Butler, and a large body of 
Canadian Indians and the disaffected of the Iroquois, 
under Colonel Daniel Claus and Captain Joseph Brant 
(Thayendanega) . 

No evidence of Indian scouts had been seen in the 
vicinity of Fort Schuyler, but a small working party 
from the fort had been attacked by a party of Amer- 
inds near Fort Newport on Wood Creek, and some of 
the soldiers killed and others taken prisoners. In order 
to protect the men at work, a party of one htmdred 
of the garrison as guard, among whom was Rudolph, 
were sent out in the early hours of the morning with 
a tearful "God speed" from Mildred and Therese. 

After the departure of the guard, the trio wandered 



Killing of the Maidens 215 

aimlessly out of the fort, going in the opposite direc- 
tion from that taken by the soldiers, and soon came 
to the picket line; and in the same listless manner, 
picking berries and wild flowers as they went, out into 
the woods, unmindful of lurking foes. 

The three maidens, fresh from their morning ab- 
lutions, were attired in short, dark blue cotton skirts, 
with low-cut blouse of white linen shirred across 
the neck, and short loose sleeves, exposing the firm 
health-tinted flesh of neck and shoulders, while their 
feet were encased in neatly fitting buckskin moccasins, 
laced half way to the knee. The long brown hair of 
Nellie, the black tresses of Mildred, and the golden 
locks of blonde Therese were braided in glossy plaits, 
which hung below their waists, while each maiden 
carried a stout staff. 

Mildred, the life of the party, was tall and lithe of 
limb, with that pure white complexion which might 
well be called transparent, barely concealing as it did 
the ruddy hue of health that seems ready to bloom 
on cheek and chin to match the full red lips, seemingly 
forever parted for pensive smile or gay peal of laugh- 
ter. Her eyes, whose long lashes and brows were as 
midnight in blackness, were of that uncertain tint of 
dark gray, shaded to deepest olive, which unfolds to 
you the heart that the eye of black seems to hide as 
with a mask. 

Both Therese and Mildred had blossomed into 
beautiful womanhood, although inured to the hard- 
ships and toils of frontier life, and the sports of stream, 
field, and forest had given them strength of limb that 
many a college athlete might envy. 

Reclining under the shade of a small cluster of 



?i6 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

forest trees, the two older girls were thinking of the 
loved ones and the dangers that encompassed them, 
and listlessly watching Nell, who had wandered a short 
distance from them in search of forest flowers, when 
they were startled by the appearance of an Indian 
in hideous war-paint, and the piercing cry of terror 
from Nell as the savage seized her as she turned for 
flight. Springing to their feet, Therese, followed by 
Mildred, rushed to the assistance of their companion, 
who was pinioned against a tree with one hand of the 
Indian, while with the other he drew his knife. As he 
raised to strike, Therese, who was in advance, brought 
her stout staff down on his head, crushing the skull 
and laying him dead at her feet. Almost at the 
instant of the stroke that killed the savage the two 
brave girls found themselves in the grasp of two of 
his companions, while Nell, released and slightly 
wounded, sped with the fleetness of a deer towards 
the fort, a half a mile away. 

Pausing an instant when she found she was not 
pursued, she saw the hatchet and scalping-knife do 
their deadly work on the prostrate fonns of her com- 
panions and then with even greater speed continued 
her flight imtil she fell unconscious at the open portal 
of the fort. 

It afterwards transpired that on the evening of the 
day of this atrocious murder the assassins were 
boasting in the presence of Thayendanega and 
Tegcheunto of the slaying of the maidens. The de- 
scription that the two Hurons gave of their victims 
attracted the chief's attention and he ordered them 
to lead him to the spot, Tegcheunto accompanying 
him, and was horrified to find the mangled bodies 



Killing of the Maidens 217 

of their tw'O friends. With a calmness that was 
marvellous in one of so passionate a nature, Brant 
ordered the bodies placed on a litter and carried to 
a secluded spot outside of the encampment. A grave 
was prepared and with simple ceremonies by the army- 
chaplain, and wrapped in the blankets of Brant and 
William, the bodies of the friends of their youth and 
manhood were lowered in the grave. 

Twenty-four hours after, the bodies of the two 
Hurons were found outside of the camp, bearing the 
same woimds that they had inflicted upon their 
victims. 

The grief of Rudolph, when, upon his return from 
Wood Creek the day after the occurrence, Nell Earle 
related to him the terrible affair, was grievous to 
behold. 

With the consent of Colonel Gansevoort, Rudolph 
asked for volunteers to go in search of the bodies, 
but was somewhat embarrassed by the large number 
who were eager to join in the perilous attempt. Se- 
lecting, however, three trusty scouts, he, following 
the explicit directions given him by Nell, found the 
spot, plainly indicated by gruesome evidence and the 
blood-stained staff of Therese. 

The utmost wariness and circumspection had been 
necessary in order to reach the spot, which was on the 
outskirts of one of the Indian encampments west of 
the fort, and indicated on some old maps as "the 
scalping tree. " A few rods north could be seen the 
straggling camp-fires of the Indians, while to the south 
lay the cedar swamp. The sight of the staff brought 
vividly to mind the courageous attempt of the young 
girls to rescue their companion and their horrible 



2i8 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

death by their cniel captors. Evidence was plainly 
visible that they did not yield up their young lives 
without a fearful struggle with these ghouls of the 
forest lands. 

Terrible rage filled the breast of Rudolph, but it 
was of that calm and deliberate character that boded 
ill to the persons who were the occasion of it. The 
flickering light of the camp-fires was but a few rods 
away, and a shot from a rifle would undoubtedly 
result in death or capture. The young man did 
not fear death, but rather welcomed the thought of 
the cessation of life, the eternal lapse of memory ; but 
did not care to give his life for one or even two of the 
hated race that had brought this great grief upon him. 
In his rage he said that scores of lives could not atone 
for their murder, and he determined to take care of 
his own life that he might wreak terrible vengeance 
on the dusky warriors of the tribe of Hurons. The 
presence of members of the hated race, however, so 
near the spot of the brutal attack was an incentive for 
instant action. 

During consultation in regard to the plan of attack, 
Rudolph insisted that he should warily approach one 
of the outlying camps alone, the others to follow near 
enough to support him with their rifles if it should 
be necessary for him to make a hurried retreat. 

Concealing themselves at a distance that rendered 
the movements in camp distinctly visible in the 
light of the many fires, they waited impatiently until 
the occupants of the wigw^ams should seek rest on 
their n^de couches, often only mother earth. It is 
a singular fact that the Indians seldom protected their 
camps with sentinels or outposts, but trusted to 



Killing of the Maidens 219 

their own wakefulness to guard against surj^rises, 
even when on the war-path. Knowing this custom, 
the scouts had but little fear of being discovered 
after evidence of activity had ceased. 

The wigwam which had been selected as the object 
of attack lay outside the circle of light, and the 
savages had gradually retired from the great central 
fire, leaving but one dusky warrior sitting on the 
ground clasping his knees while he listlessly watched 
the dying embers. Rudolph's party drew stealthily 
near until they could discern the dark forms of two 
warriors in slumber outside of the weather-stained 
canvas of their tepee. Motioning the scouts to halt 
at a little elevation which concealed their forms when 
lying at full length, Rudolph continued to advance, 
prone upon his stomach, with the sinuous motion of 
a huge reptile, until he could distinguish the features 
of his intended victims. Slowly circling around 
until he approached the heads of the sleeping war- 
riors, who were lying parallel with each other, he 
raised himself on one knee and with two rapid 
strokes of his hunting hatchet cleft the brain of 
each dusky foe, without a sound except a guttural 
exclamation from his last victim, which aroused the 
watcher at the fire. Starting to his feet, the savage 
stood in a listening attitude only to receive the deadly 
stroke from a hatchet hurled with unerring precision 
by one of Rudolph's companions, the force of the 
weapon piercing his brain and laying him at full 
length on the glowing coals. Retreating as silently 
as they had advanced, the scouting party arrived at 
the fort in the early hours of the morning. 

On August 2d and 3d St. Leger's whole army 



220 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

arrived and completely invested the fort, the In- 
dians especially annoying the garrison by a continual 
firing of small arms, at times skulking through the 
underbrush and potato vines of a large cultivated 
field in the immediate vicinity of the fortifications, 
on the west. During this period Rudolph seemed 
tireless, and was ever at his post to pick off any of 
his hated foes who were unfortunate enough to ex- 
pose any portion of their dusky naked bodies to the 
unerring aim of his trusty rifle. So careless of ex- 
posure had he become that he received a reprimand 
from Col. Willett, who ordered him to keep imder 
cover, as the small garrison could ill spare so brave 
a soldier and such an unerring marksman. If any 
particularly hazardous work was to be done, Rudolph 
was always the first to volunteer, at times heedlessly 
exposing himself as though fearless of death. From 
a happy-go-luck}^ good fellow, with kindly, cheerful 
disposition, he had become silent and moody, at times 
standing for hours at a casement with set teeth and 
eager eyes watching for an opportunity to wreak 
vengeance on any of the dusky race who had in- 
flicted this great sorrow upon him. As yet he did 
not Icnow that the murderers had been slain by his 
old-time friends Thayendanega and Tegcheimto, 
and his only thought seemed to be to kill, kill, in 
hopes that his bullet might reach the heart of the 
assassins. Although tenderly attached to little Nell, 
wlio lay wotmded in the southwest bomb-proof, he 
refrained from visiting her often, knowing that he 
would lose command of himself in her presence and 
probably retard her recovery from an excess of 
emotion. Withdrawing himself from his friends and 



Killing of the Maidens 221 

left alone with his grief and his rage, he seemed to 
develop savage instincts that were entirely foreign 
to his nature. He became, in fact, a monomaniac, 
crouching here and there, starting at the least sound, 
while his wild gaze sought the forest and the low 
shrubs in the direction of the Indian encampments. 
At times his eager face would put on a grim smile 
as his keen eye caught the waving motion of the 
feathers of a scalp lock or the bronze hand of an In- 
dian putting aside a branch, in his stealthy advance 
towards the fort to pick off some careless picket or 
fearless soldier, and he became at once the wary 
marksman of the forest, keenly watching his foe and 
luring him on by careless indifference to his exposure 
until with quick movement and apparently without 
an aim of precision his rifle's missile found its way 
to the life-blood of his foe. 

At last, on the 6th day of August, came word that 
General Herkimer was advancing to the relief of the 
garrison with nine hundred eager and impetuous 
patriots, with the request that when the messengers 
arrived at the fort. Colonel Gansevoort should make 
a sortie in order to draw the attention of the British 
and Indians from their advance and make it easier 
for his (Herkimer's) troops to enter the fort. 

But General Herkimer was checked by that fear- 
fully fatal ambuscade of Brant's at Oriskany, which 
resulted in a hand-to-hand battle of many hours' dura- 
tion and the dearly-bought victory of the patriots 
of the Mohawk Valley, who were left in possession of 
the field of battle, with one third of their comrades 
lying dead and wounded and their loved General 
seriously injured. 



222 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

With St. Leger "s troops at Oriskany were Brant and 
Tegcheunto, the half-breed, and with the patriots 
Thomas Spencer, the Oneida. During the latter part 
of the engagement, personal encounters frequently 
took place between former neighbors, sometimes the 
only weapon a knife, and frequently with bare hands. 

In the midst of the fray, however, Thomas Spencer 
f oimd himself confronted by Tegcheunto armed with 
knife and tomahawk and evidently intent upon 
taking his life. Thomas was armed with knife only, 
although supplemented with braw^ny hands and 
muscles of steel, as became a man who had followed 
the trade of blacksmith for a number of years. It 
was at the time the retreating cry of "Oonah, Oonah!" 
was given, and the Indians were fast withdrawing 
from the conflict, that Spencer, greatly wearied, was 
resting on a log where the plateau drops to the north 
and finally ends in a swamp, when he heard the break- 
ing of a twig behind him, Springing to his feet, he 
turned just in time to intercept a blow from a toma- 
hawk in the hand of young Johnson, by grasping the 
handle as it descended. 

The struggle for the weapon was brief and it was 
soon l3'ing in a thicket a few feet away. As the 
hatchet disappeared, each man drew his knife and, 
taking a step backward, watched his adversary for 
the first movement of attack. 

Tegcheunto, with the blood of Kin^ Hendrick and 
Sir William Johnson in his veins, was no mean ad- 
versary to the young blacksmith, whose lithe, sinewy 
form was a few inches taller than the broad-shoul- 
dered half-breed. The place where they had met 
was a level plateau sparsely covered with forest trees 



Killing of the Maidens. 223 

of great girth, with here and there the forms of dead 
and wounded American and British soldiers and 
Indian warriors, with red, green and blue garments 
mingled with dusky flesh, gaudy trappings and 
feathered head-dresses. A Httle farther to the south 
could be seen other combatants, some in the close 
embrace of a death struggle, others in retreat and 
pursuit. 

The sight of the man who had gained the love of 
the maiden who had spumed him, and the temporary 
advantage Spencer had gained by disarming him of 
his tomahawk, roused the revengeful blood of the 
savage to furious rage, and muttering between his 
set teeth, "You d — ddog of an Oneida, I '11 send you 
where your yellow- haired sweetheart has gone," he 
made a vicious lunge at his exposed side, which would 
have ended the blacksmith's life had it not been for a 
quick spring to the right, and the momentum of 
the blow, which threw Johnson off his guard. 

Before he could recover, Spencer drove his knife 
to the hilt in his brawny breast, coolly withdrawing 
the same, as his foe fell backwards, adding one more 
to the long list of dead on Oriskany's battle-field. 

While these scenes were being enacted at Oriskany, 
Colonel Willett was making the sortie from Fort 
Schuyler asked for by General Herkimer. With 
Willett' s detachment went Rudolph. The impetu- 
ous charge of the Americans drove in the pickets and 
dispersed the advance guard before it could be 
formed for resistance, and they sought safety in 
flight. Two encampments of the Indians were 
totally routed and many wagon loads of supplies and 
baggage were brought into the fort, together with 



224 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

blankets, kettles, Indian trinkets and garments 
thrown off by the Indians who were engaged in the 
battle at Oriskany, and five British standards. Great 
joy was manifested by the garrison over the success 
of the raid and the plunder secured. Among the 
various articles found in the Indians' camp were two 
fresh scalps. One of the scalps was of golden hair, 
the other glossy black, and evidently those of Mildred 
and Therese Stanley; neatly braided and smoothly 
dressed as they wore it the morning they wandered 
out to meet their dreadful death. 

The effect of the discovery upon Rudolph can bet- 
ter be imagined than described. The long-pent-up 
tears that flowed, the only relief to a heart sur- 
charged with grief, rage and remorse, left this strong 
man utterly prostrate, refusing food and declining 
to perform those duties which had been eagerly 
welcomed since the day of their disappearance. 

On the third day after the sortie he appeared again 
on the ramparts, heedlessly exposing himself to the 
fire of the enemy as though he courted death as the 
only relief from his sufferings. 

All night the British bombarded the fort, and all 
liight long Rudolph with rifle across his arm, paced 
the ramparts, while shells were exploding all about 
him. But just as the eastern sky changed its hue 
and put on the gray livery of dawn, a shot from the 
enemy pierced the heart already broken with grief, 
and Rudolph died, murmuring with his faintest 
breath, "Sweetheart! sister!" 




Club House of " The Antlers. 



CHAPTER XIX 

A VISIT TO DADANASCARA, THE SUMMER HOME OF 
ALFRED DE GRAFF CHARMING VIEWS AND HIS- 
TORIC SCENES THEREABOUT — ANCIENT INDIAN 
CAMP ON THE VROOMAN FARM REVISITED 

PERHAPS there is no book that was ever written 
in which scenes of the historic Mohawk Val- 
ley have been described, or tragic events related, 
either of fact or fiction, that has given more pleasure 
to the inhabitants of that immense tract of forests 
and plains, hills, valleys, and streams, hissing 
cataracts and purling brooks, once called Tr\'on 
Covmty, than Harold Frederic's 7n the Valley. 

It is almost impossible to wander far afield either 
north or west in the vicinity of old Mount Johnson, 
or Fort Johnson as it was renamed in 1757, without 
tr\'ing to locate a trail, or waterfall, or gloomy gulf 
where the black boy Tulp was dashed crashing to 
the rocks below, or to find the secluded council glen 
of the Mohawks, so graphically described. And 
although we have been informed by the writer him- 
self that his scenes and incidents were all imaginary-, 
and that he never passed through the "Valley" until 

three years after the publication of his book, we like 
15 225 



226 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

to hide that statement away back in some remote 
cell of the brain, dormant, and go on dreaming of 
sylvan nooks and gloomy gulfs peopled with a real 
black boy and Philip Cross, Daisy Stewart, and the 
generous, sturdy young Douw. 

The last day in June, 1905, was one of the rare days 
of which poets sing, one of the days that seem to 
appeal irresistibly to the lover of nature to wander 
in haunts primitive and to forget, if possible, all 
things iirban. Yielding to such appeal our trio of 
congenial spirits alighted from the suburban trolley 
at Getman's Crossing en route for Dadanascara. 
Shunning the highways, we took a cut cross-country 
traversing swampy lands, tangled woods, fields 
cultivated and uncultivated, sometimes passing 
through fields of white daisies and ^^ellow mar- 
guerites and purple clover blossoms as high as the 
waist, again threading among stumps and boulders 
and over turf as grateful to tired feet as a velvet 
carpet, and at last, under the grateful shade of 
loft}^ pines and stunted hemlock and cedar, arrived 
at the cliff of the Dadanascara. 

Here my attention was called to a well-graded 
and well-defined road-bed, following the course of 
the creek, gradually descending until it reaches its 
bed and by a ford crosses it to the western or north- 
em bank. 

Our objective point being Dadanascara, the 
country home of Alfred De Graff, a mile away, we 
did not, at that time, descend to the bed of the 
stream, but continued on oxn way along the edge 
of the cliff, with an occasional glance at the bed of 



A Visit to Dadanascara 227 

the gulf, nearly seventy feet below. Following a lane 
evidently used for cattle we soon emerged from the 
wood and found ourselves on the edge of the 600-f eet 
plateau and 300 feet above the wide expanse of fiat 
lands that stretches out from the N. Y. C. R. R. to 
the banks of the Mohawk. The view of the hills of 
Florida and Glen from this point is entrancing. At 
our feet, although a half-mile away, is the wide blue 
ribbon of the river, a fitting border to the waving 
fields of grain that spread before us east, west, and 
south, an unbroken expanse of the yellow-green of 
its vernal bloom. 

On the south side of the Mohawk lie before us, 
en panorama, the Florida hills in all their beauty 
of emerald hues, and the clear air discloses to us in 
turn Fort Hunter, nestling by the turbulent Scho- 
harie, the Jesuit shrine Auriesville, and a little 
farther, and on top of the plateau, the little village 
of Glen, while along the southwestern horizon are seen 
in the dim distance the Schoharie highlands and the 
Helderberg Mountains. Overhead, the blue sky is 
luminous with light and heat, while the distant 
horizon is outlined with cumulus clouds of ponderous 
size, each gray convolution bordered with a snow- 
white lining which shines like silver in the declining 
sun. 

Descending the hill we turned to the west and on 
a slight elevation we saw Dadanascara — ^not the 
creek, but the beautiful country place so named by 
its owner, Alfred De Graff. One of the trio expressed 
the thought of the others when he exclaimed, "The 
most beautiful country home in the Mohawk Valley ! ' ' 



2 28 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

Embowered in trees of generous growth, and with 
tasteful out-buildings scattered here and there, a 
full and uninterrupted view of the dwelling is im- 
possible. But in that fact lies one of its chief 
charms. As we wander about the spacious lawn, 
new vistas of beauty meet the eyes at almost every 
step as the creamy white of the structure becomes 
visible through the foliage, which half conceals yet 
half reveals new charms both picturesque and 
beautiful. 

But our quest was not yet ended, and we re- 
luctantly turned from the courteous attention of 
Mr. Howard De Graff to explore the gulf of Dadanas- 
cara. One of our party remained to finish a bottle 
of "Schlitz, " but the others hurried on. x\s soon as 
the tardy one joined us he reported that he had 
seen three snakes in a pool we had just passed. Of 
course he thought we believed him, but we kept 
wondering how three snakes could be produced from 
one small bottle of "Schlitz." 

And then the professor told about a young man 
coming in late to a ball with a big jag on, who 
stepped up to the leader of the orchestra and asked, 
"Was that Tannhauser 3^ou just played?" "No," 
replied the leader. "It was Anheuser," As the 
crowd laughed he turned away, saying to the leader, 
"You're all right." Another true stor}'' was told: 
A popular Division Street grocer had shaven off his 
mustache. An Italian customer came into the 
store and at once noticed the smooth face of the 
grocer, and, wanting to tell him he looked like a 
clergy-man, he began, "You looka like, you looka, 




Abandoned Highway to Albany. Leading to Dadanascara Ford. 



A Visit to Dadanascara 229 

you looka," but the word he wanted would not 
present itself. All at once his face lighted up as he 
said, "You looka— you looka like a church," 

But if we stop to tell stories we will never get 
through the chasm. 

We had descended into the bed of the creek imme- 
diately north of a substantial iron bridge spanning 
the stream for farm purposes. About 200 feet from 
this point the slate cliffs appear, hemming in the 
stream for nearly a mile and a half, their perpen- 
dicular heights of perhaps seventy feet making a bar- 
rier all of that distance that is impossible to scale, so 
that a person entering this slaty gorge must go 
through to the end or return from whence he came. 
The bed itself, about fifty feet wide, is flat and extends 
close to the cliffs, so that in ordinary high water it 
is impossible to make the trip dry-shod. 

This chasm is one of the most picturesque of the 
Mohawk Valley and only needs to be seen to be 
appreciated. Each high cliff is crowned with forest 
growths close to its edge, the tall pines adding forty 
feet or more to the seeming height of the barriers by 
which we are hemmed in. 

I have called this spot a chasm, gorge, and gulf, 
but I think it will bear the importation of the western 
name of canyon to fittingly describe its appearance. 
The irregular slaty cliffs with their black slaty scales 
piled in myriads of layers and festooned from above 
with wild grape vines, the hardy honeysuckle, and 
poison ivy, show signs of erosion and corrasion and 
suggest post-glacial origin. At a point about half 
a mile from the upper end of the canyon the creek 



230 The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

makes two sharp turns in the form of a letter S, the 
cliffs being worn into semicircles by the action of 
the water, leaving but a narrow sloping ridge, with a 
ver}' precarious foothold, between the pool at its 
base and the rocky amphitheatre. In fact at this 
point I lost my grip on the slimy slate and slipped 
into the pool. 

Sitting on a narrow ledge at the foot of the cliff 
and gazing at the highest point of the precipice on 
the opposite bank, I could not blame the careless 
reader of In the Valley for selecting this point as 
the spot from which Philip Cross threw the black 
boy to seeming death, and the later tragedy where 
the crazy Tulp seeks revenge, and, with his enemy, 
finds death on the rocky bed below. 

Still dreaming I see the bloody battle-field of 
Oriskany, and in the bright moonlight that followed 
that dreadful day can discern the wounded Philip 
Cross, placed in the birchen canoe for its five da^'s' 
journey down the Mohawk River, floating noiseless 
by night through the narrow canalized stream, 
with barely water enough to float the heavily laden 
canoe, past the wide and wondrously beautiful val- 
ley of the German Flats, over the difficult portage 
of the falls, and among its picturesque rocky islets, 
and finally on the long, smooth stretches of quiet 
waters, guided by the silent, slow, and skilful move- 
ment of the paddle in the hands of Douw as he 
watches his dying enemy. 

Aroused from reverie he notes the silvery light of 
the full moon and its shimmering reflection in the 
placid river and becomes aware, by the wide reaches 




Dadanascara Gorge. 



A Visit to Dadanascara 231 

of flat lands on the left bank, that he is nearing the 
end of his journey on the river. 

Guiding his frail canoe towards the shore, he 
searches for and soon finds the entrance to the 
Dadanascara, up which he slowly paddles nearly to 
the cliffs, where he finds his companion, Enoch 
Wade, waiting for him. And I almost expect to 
see the slow approach of the boatmen with the 
canoe on their shoulders around the bend below. 
The splash of a stone thrown into the pool at my 
feet arouses me, and the vision vanishes. 

A few rods further on, at another bend of the 
stream, the cliffs fall away and we reach the open 
fields again. And here we meet again the road 
we spoke of before, leading to a ford which connects, 
a hundred feet farther up the stream, with a well- 
defined road, and further on a branch road with a 
westward trend. This road and ford antedate the 
Schenectady and Utica turnpike built by Seth 
Whitmore, Osias Bronson, and others in the year 
1800. One of these roads was the main road to the 
West, and the other an old road to Johnstown. A 
bridge may have spanned the stream, but at present 
there is an easy ford across the slate bed of the 
canyon, which was probably used by Sir John 
Johnson and his Tories and Indians in his raid of 
the valley, and his approach to the house of Colonel 
Visscher was probably through the canyon of the 
Dadanascara. 

You will remember the story: 

Shortly after midnight of the 2 2d of May, 1780, the Visscher 



232 The Stor}- of Old Fort Johnson 

mansion was assailed by a combined force of the Tory and 
Indian foe. The inmates consisted of the Colonel, his mother, 
his sisters, two brothers, and the sei^-ants, who were subjected 
to the bloody violence of more than a htmdred enemies. 
The scene which followed was one too deeply imbued with 
horror to be attempted in this brief recital. The sisters fled, 
seeking concealment in the gloom of the gorge of the Dadanas- 
cara Creek, while the mother, feeble with age and crippled 
by disease, was tinable to move. The three brothers, John, 
Harman, and the Colonel, engaged in hand-to-hand combat 
in defence of their home and mother, but were overpowered. 

The first two were murdered and scalped, and the latter 
was also (as was thought) among the slain. He was scalped 
and left for dead, after which the hotise was pillaged and then 
fired — the enemy departing amid the blaze. The Colonel, 
however, re%*ived, and recovered sufficient strength not only 
to escape the flames, but also to drag away the bloody corpses 
of his brothers. His mother had survived a savage blow. 
and he was able to carr}- her to a place of safety. 

These statements indicate a degree of nen,'e that seems 
almost incredible, but they were among the facts of histon,*. 
Colonel Visscher afterwards found shelter among his friends 
in Schenectady. His mtirdered brothers were buried in one 
grave near their father in the family cemeter}*, and Colonel 
Visscher was the sole male survivor of the line. He recovered 
his health and immediately restmied active service. 

The house which was burned stood nearer the 
turnpike than the present De Graff mansion, its 
exact site being indicated by the bronze deer in 
front of the house. 

After the war of the Revolution the Colonel 
rebuilt his family mansion on the spot where the 
De Graff mansion now stands, in a ver\^ solid and 
spacious manner. After many years it was again 
enlarged and beautified by the present owner, Mr. 



A Visit to Dadanascara 233 

Alfred De Graff, who represents the fifth generation 
in direct line of succession from Colonel Visscher. 

After we reached the ford the writer did not have 
much assistance from his companions in locating 
roads, owing to the fact that their love for the good 
things of the woods and fields outweighed their love 
for history, and they spent their time in tickling 
their palates with strawberries and squaw-berries, 
wintergreens and calamus roots. 

After emerging entirely into the open fields we 
found the Dadanascara wandering at all points of 
the compass, carving its bed through the fertile 
fields of the north. The stream seemed to be at the 
bottom of an extended valley, or rather the bed of a 
large prehistoric lake whose water had, in ages 
past, carved its way through a slaty barrier and 
formed an outlet through the canyon of the 
Dadanascara.^ 

But all things come to an end, and the lengthening 
shadows of the sun emphasized the fact that our 
ramble must end ; but we could not resist the desire 
to revisit an old Indian camp on the Vrooman farm 
and were rewarded with a handful of prehistoric 
relics, although we barely caught our trolley. 

1 (Query: Did not the Sacandaga flow south into the 
Mohawk before the ice cap of the glacial period had receded 
far enough so that the water of that river and the prehistoric 
Vlaie Lake could make its present connection with the Hudson 
River?) 



INDEX 



Abe, Little, 21, 74, 78, 80 

Abeel, John, 175, 176 

Abercrombie, Gen., 38, 127 

Abraham, Chief, 20. 23 

Adageghteinge patent, 156 

Adams, Robert, 157, 159, 160 

Adams, William, 159, 160 

Adariaghta, 8 

Adirondack, 27 

Adriutha, 8 

Agniers, 28 

Akin, Ethan, 165 

Albany, 52, 67, 73, 113, 137 

Algonquin, 27 

Allen, Ethan, 38 

Alter, N. Burton, 184 

Amherst, Gen. Jeffrey, 38 

Anderson, Lieut., 98 

Andiatarocte, 27 

Andrustown, 105 

Arnold, General Benedict, 87, 98, 

99, loi, 102, 103, 104 
Atayataronghte, Louis, 114, 115, 

116, 118 
Auriesville, 227 



B 



Babbington Patent, 158 
Ball, Lieut., 88 
Barclay, Rev. James, lo 
Batten Kil, 80 
Bellem, Major, 89 
Bellinger, Col., 93 
Bellinger Family, 124 
Benschoten, Captain, 89, 118 
Bird, Col., 79 
Bloody Pond, 36, 59 
Bonney, Mrs., 147 
Boquet, Col. Henry, 42, 43, 51 
Bowen, Henry, 186 
Bowen, Lieut., 88 
Bowen, William, 186 
Bradstreet, Gen. John, 59, 127 



Brant, Joseph, (Thayendanega), 
21, 50, 59, 66, 73, 74, 75, 76,78, 
79, 103, 109, III, 114, 117, ii8, 
119, 120, 122, 137, 143, 206, 207, 
208, 209, 210, 211, 214, 221, 222 

Brant, Molly, 11, 20, 21, 22, 74, 
78, 79, 80, 137, 149, 150, 153, 

158, 202, 204, 206, 211 

Brant, Nicklaus, 23 

Brantford, 143 

Brant, Young, 151 

Bronson, Osias, 231 

Brown, Col. John, 112, 115, 15a 

Brown, John, 170 

Bruyas, Father, 28 

Boyne, 2 

Buell, Augustus C, 5 

Burgoyne, Gen. John, 38, 80, 83, 

84, 93, 103, 105, 214 
Burke, Joe, 17 
Bushy Run, 39, 43 
Butler, Col. John, 66, 77, 84, 92, 

93, 99, 100, 121, 138, 159, 214 
Butler's Mills, 120 
Butler's Rangers, 22, iii, 116 
Butler, Lieut. Walter, 66, 100, 

101, 103, 210 
Byrne, Michael, 6, 7, 9, 22 
Byrne, William, 157 



Cadogan's Horse, 5 

Campbell, Daniel, 152, 158 

Campbell, Sir Colin, 58, 59 

Canajoharie, 108, 109, 171 

Carlingford, 6 

Caroline (Hendrick), 5, 11, 21, 22, 

23, 75, 202 
Caroline Jr. (Johnson), 20, 22, 204 
Cassidy, Luke, 91 
Catskill Mountains, 182 
Caughnawaga, 174 
Caughnawagas, 29, 30, 62, 87, 88 

89, 112, 143 
Champlain, 27, 28 



235 



Index 



Champlain, Lake, 12, 26, 29, 30, 

31. 38 
Charlotte (Johnson), 20, 22, 204 
Charlotte River, 156 
Cherry Valley, loi, 105, 120 
Chew, Joseph, 157, 159, 160 
Chew, William, 157 
Claus, Col. Daniel. 15, 58, 62, 66, 

100, 103, 150, 158 160, 161, 214 
Claus, WiUiam, 158 
Clinton, Gen. James, 107, 109 
Clinton, Gov. George, 116 
Cobleskill, loS 
Cochran, Maj., 86, 98, 99 
Colbraith, William, Si 
Colbraith, Lieut., 81 
Committee of Safety, 64, 66, 73, 

172 
Cooper, J. Fenimore, 27 
Conowaroharie, 120 
Complanter, iii, 175, 176 
Cox, Col. Ebenezer, 64, 75, 76 
Creation, Legends of, 189 
Crogan, George, 14, 50, 51 
Cross, Philip, 225, 230 
Crown Point, 12, 29, 31, 38 
Cuyler, Jacob C, 16 
Cuyler, John, 16 



Dadanascara, 225-233 
Daly, Patrick, 157 
Danube, 78, 79 
Davidson, Dr. Oliver, 16 
Daj'ton, Col. Elias, 67, 83, 138 
Dease, Dr. John, 156, 159, i66 
De Courcelle, 28 
De GrafT, Alfred, 226, 227, 233 
De Graff, Howard, 228 
De Lancey. Hon. James, 7, 13 
De Lancey, Stephen, 7 
Delaney, Col., 127 
De Levy, M., 82 
Delawares, 42, 45, 46, 51, 52 
De Pevster, Abraham, 169 
De Peyster, Maj. -Gen. J. Watts, 
56, 142, 147, 165, 166, 168, 169 
Deseronto, 21, 143 
Detroit, 40, 42, 45, 46, 47, 59 
Devil's Hole, 39, 48, 49, 50 
Dewitt, Captain, 89 
Diefendorf Family, 124 
Diefendorf, Frederick, 124 
Diefendorf, Jacob, 124, 129 



Diefendorf, Lieut., 88, 91 
Dieskau, Baron de, 29, 31, 32, 34, 

35. 36 
Dorlack, 123, 124, 127, 129 
Douw, Volkert T., 106 
Doxtader (Tory), 123, 125 
Drogheda, 2, 3 
Duane, James, 106 
Dubois, Col., 115, 117, 118 
Duncan, Captain, iii, 113 
Dunmorc s War, 15 



Earle, Nellie, 213, 215, 217 
Edward, Fort, 30, 32 
Elimore, Col., 70, 86, 87 



Fisher, Col., 188 

Fisher, Herman, 188 

Fisher, John, 188 

Florida, 16 

Folsom, Captain, 36 

Fonda, Adam, 188 

Fonda, Major Jelles, 71, 112, 159 

Fort Bull, 82, 88 

Fort Constitution, 128 

Fort Dayton, 83, 87, 89, 100, loi, 

102, 130, 131, 132, 133, 212, 214 
Fort Frontenac, 127 
Fort Hunter, 8, 74, 77, 78, 112, 

121, 143, 182, 183, 184, 198, 

203, 227 
Fort Keyser, 113 
Fort Lyman, 30, 31, 32, 35, 36 
Fort Newport, 82, 88, 89, 98, 214 
Fort Paris, 112, 113 
Fort Pitt, 42, 44, 46, 51 
Fort Plain, 108, 112, 115, 116, 

125, 127, 130, 17s 
Fort Plank, 120 
Fort Rensselaer, 123 
Fort Schlosser, 49 
Fort Schuyler, 61, 70, 79, 82, 83, 

84, 86, 87, 88, 100, loi, 102, 

104, 105, 106, 119, 120, 129, 

144, 145, 198, 211, 212, 214, 223 
Fort Stanwix, 82, 83, 127, 209 
Fort Ticonderoga, 31, 37,38, 127 
Fort William, 82 
Fraught, Dr., 130 
Frey, Barent, 66, 93 
Frey, Henry, 159 



Index 



237 



Gansevoort, Col. Peter, 84, 85, 
86, 87, 90, 93, 95, 104, 107, 127, 
213, 217, 221 

Gansevoort, Lendert, 177 

Garoga Creek, 115 

Genealogy of the Johnson Family, 
161, 164 

Genesee Valley, 106 

George, Lake, 13, 17, 27, 28, 29, 

30. 31. 32. 36, 37. 59 
German Flats, 12, 45,48, 98. 105, 

120, 128, 129, 130, 152 
Getman, Captain, 132 
Getman's Crossing, 226 
Gladwin, Major, 40, 41, 42 
Glen-Sanders House, 81, 85 
Glen Sanders, Leenderte, 85, 86 
Gordon, Lord Adam, 57 
Gort, William, 187 
Gorvel, Ensign, 156 
Goupil, Rene, 28 
Grand River, Canada, 21 
Grant, Mrs. Julia, 22 
Grant, Mrs., of Laggan, 52, 57, 65 
Griggs, Captain, 88, 95 
Groot, Philip, 8 
Gross, Captain, 124, 125 
Guy Park, 66, 175, 201 



H 



Haldiman, Gov. Frederick, 121 
Halsey, Francis W., 69, 70 
Hanser, Henry, 187 
Hanson, J. Howard, 172 
Hanson Patent, 174 
Harper, Col. John, 71, 73 
Harper, Col. William, 116 
Harpersfield, 72 
Hartley, Martin J., 184 
Havelock, General, 59 
Hendrick, King, 11, 13, 20, 23, 32, 

33, 222 
Herkimer, 130 
Herkimer, Han Yost, 66 
Herkimer, Gen. Nicholas, 64, 70, 

74. 75. 76, 77. 78. 84,85, 91, 92, 

153. 15s. 214, 221, 223 
Hewitt, J. N. B., 190 
Hicks, Mayor Whitehead, 127 
Hoffman's Ferry, 28 
Hoofe, Henry, Patent, 175 
Horicon, Lake, 27 



Howe, Gen. Sir William, 83, 84, 
Huger, Captain, 42 
Hurons, 27, 28, 45 



Ibbit, Moses, 159, 160 
Indian Castle, 70, 79, 117, 137 
Iroquois, 11, 20, 27, 29, 30, 50, 65, 

105 
Iroquois Lake, 27, 28 
Irving, Washington, 135 
Iscariot, Judas, 55 



Jogues, Isaac, 27, 28 

Johnson, Anna, 10, 57, 158, 161, 

201 
Johnson, Anne Brant, 154, 155 
Johnson, Catherine Maria, 142 
Johnson, Christopher, 5 
Johnson, Mrs. Christopher, 139 
Johnson, George, 154 
Johnson, Col. Guy, 15, 24, 62, 65, 

73, 74, 119, 137. 145. 150. 158, 
160, 161 

Johnson, James Stephen, 142 

Johnson, John, 155, 158 

Johnson, Sir John, 10, 14, 15, 16, 
56, 57. 59. 60, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 
81, 84, 99, 100, 103, 104, III, 
112, 113,114, 116, 117, 118, 119, 

121, 122, 134, 137, 141, 142, 
143. 144. 145. 150. 151. 156, 

157, 158, 159, 160, i6i, 186, 

187, 188, 210, 214, 231 

Johnson, Magdalene, 153, 154 
Johnson, Margaret, 154 
Johnson, Mary, 10, 57, 58, 150, 

158, 161, 201 

Johnson, Peter, 21, 66, 150, 153, 

156 
Johnson, Lady Polly Watts, 16, 
67. 134, 137. 138, 139. 140, 142 
Johnson, Susannah, 154 
Johnson, Warren, 155, 158 
Johnson, Sir William, 2,5.8 9,10, 
II, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 
21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 
31.33.35.36, 39. 45. 46, 47.48, 
49. 50. 51. 57. 59. 60, 75, 80, 
112, 138, 149, 159, 160, 161, 
165, 174, 177. 178, 181, 199, 
202, 203, 211, 222 



238 



Index 



Johnson, William of Canajoharie, 

II, 15, 20, 66, 75 
Johnson, Sir William Gordon, 164 
Johnson Castle, 23,57 
Johnson, Family Genealogy of, 

161-164 
Johnson Hall, 15, 21; 59, 60, 64, 

65, 13S, 145. 149. 161, 172, 

177-181 
Johnson, Mount, 10, 12, 23, 24, 

57, 161, 17S 
Johnson, Old Fort, 10, 12, 13, 14, 

16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 

29, 66, 67, 68, 134, 145. 151. 

158, 165, 166, 172, 174, 178, 

199, 201 
Johnson's Greens, 145. 146 
Johnson's Settlement, 8, 10, 57 
Johnstone, Rev. Mr., 74 
Johnstone's Settlement, 72 
Johnstown, 14, 15, 18, 48, 60, 64, 

65, 66, 105, 131, 137, 138, 161, 

174, iSo, iSi, 211, 231 



Kaghneghtaga (Brant), 155 
Kaiaghshota, 47 
Karacanly, 120 
Kayaderosseros Creek, 10, 136 
Kayaderosseros Patent, 175, 177 
Keder's, Riff, 112, 114 
Killing of the Maidens, 81, 88 
King, Charlotte, 22 
King George, 22 
Kingsborough, 64 
Kingsborough Patent, 14, 152, 

158, 174, 177 
Kingsland or Royal Grant, 151, 

154, 155- 15S. 174 
Kirkland, Rev. Samuel, 106, 211 
Klock, George, 76 
Klock, John, Jr., 64 
Klock's Field, iii, 114 
Knouts, Mary, 175 



Lachine Rapids, 2, 
Lafayette, Marquis de, 106 
Lalande, 28 
Lawver & Zimmerman Patent, 

156 
Lebanon, Conn., 21 
Lewis Family, 124 
Lewis, Henry, 124 



Lewis, Morgan, 116, 117 

Liberty, Sons of, 127 

Link, Matthias, 157 

Lucknow, 58 

Luzerne, Mountains, 28 

Lyman, Fort, 30, 31, 32, 35, 36 

Lyman, Gen. Phineas, 29, 30 

M 

McDonald, Donald, 131, 133 
McGinnis, Captain, 36 
McGrah, Christopher, 155 
McGrah, Mary, 155 
McKean, Capt. Robert, 114, 115, 

116, 117, iiS, 125, 126, 127 
McKim, 22 
McMaster, James, 64 
Macdonnell, Capt. John, 122 
Maddeson, Corporal, 88 
Mahicans, 27, 28 
Maxwell, George, 16 
Meath, Ireland, 2 
Mellon, Colonel, 89, 90, 95, 96, 97 
Memoirs of an American Lady, 52 
Meyers, Col. T. Bailey, 24 
Michillimackinack, 40 
Mohawk Legends, 189, 197 
Mohawk River, 5, 8, 10, 11, 14, 23, 

24, 45-57. 74, 82, 85, 86, 89, 92, 

109, 120, 121, 124 
Mohawk Valley, 28, 69, 71, 81, 85, 

86, 105, 108, III, 112, 130 
Mohawks, 14, 20, 21, 27, 28, 30, 

32, 33' 39. 45. 48, 50, 52, 66, 69, 

70, 74, 78, 81, 105, 106 
Monroe, Lieut. Col., 37 
Montagnies, 27 
Montcahn, Marquis de, 37 
Montgomery, Gen. Richard, 128 
Morris, Gouvemeur, 127 
Musquetoons, 25 
Myers Family, 124 

N 

Niagara, 22, 46, 48, 49, 107, 119, 

120, 13S 
Niagara, Fort, 59 
Nose, 121, 124 



Ogwagas, 14. 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 

74, 105, 109, no 
Old Fort Creek, 10, 24, 57 



Index 



239 



Oneida Lake, 104, 107 

Oneidas, 14, 45, 66, 70, 79, 80, 87, 

89, 103, 105, 106, 107, 114, 117, 

119, 120, 121 
Onondaga Lake, 107, 118 
Onondagas, 45, 70, 105, 106, 170 
Oriskany, 21, 22, 61, 75, 79, 81, 

84, 92, 95, 102, 106, 129, 144, 

145, 180, 214, 221, 230 
Ostrander, Lieut., 88 
Oswego, 107, III, 121 
Oswego River, 107 
Otsego Lake, 109 
Ottawas, 39, 45, 50 
Oudenarde, 6 
Outram, Gen., 59 



Painted Rocks, 201 

Parkman, Francis, 29, 51 

Pearson, Prof. Jonathan, 19 

Perrian, Father, 28 

Pesci Siro, 170 

Phillips, Alexander, 8 

Phillips, Hamilton, 8 

Phillips, Lewis, 9 

Plateau, James, 1S7 

Plattsburg, 38 

Pontiac, 14, 39, 40, 41, 42, 45, 48, 

5°. 51 
Pool, a half-breed, 75 
Pottawatomies, 45 
Pownell, John, 8 
Prevost, Lieut. Augustine, 156 
Putnam, Miss Clara, 15, 16 
Putnam, Dewitt C, 186 
Putnam, Garrett, 186, 187 
Putnam, Jan, 186 
Putnam, Victor, 186 



Q 



Queen Anne's Chapel, 10, 77, 143, 

198 
Queen Esther, no 



R 



Randall, Charlotte, 22 

Randall, Henry, 22 

Resume of History of War of the 

Valley, 81 
Richmond, A. G., 171 
Rogers, Major, 39 



Rome, 82, 84 
Royal Greens, 68 



Sacandaga, 143, 151. i74, 177^ ^33 
Sammons, Frederick, 62 
Sammons, Jacob, 62, 125 
Sammons, Sampson, 62 
Sanford, Hon. Stephen, 172 
Saratoga, 105, 137 
Schenectady, 8, 16, 85, in, 135, 

137, 200 
Schoharie, 108, iii, 113, 120, 121, 

143, 156, 227 
Schoharie Creek, 182 
Schoharie Indians, 70 
Schuyler, Han Yost, 98, 100, loi, 

102, 103, 104 
Schuyler, Jeremiah, 16 
Schuyler, Madame, 52 
Schuyler, Nicholas, loi, 102 
Schuyler, Col. Peter, 82 
Schuyler, Gen. Philip, 66, 71, 74, 

79, 83, 91, 129, 139 
Scott, John Morin, 128 
Schroon Lake, 143 
Senecas, 45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 105, 

106 
Sharon Springs, 123, 124 
Shawnees, 42, 45, 46, 51 
Shell Bush, 130 

Shell, Christian, 130, 131, 132, 133 
Shepard, Horace, 17 
Shirley, Gov. William, 12 
Shoemaker, 100 
Simms, Jephtha R., 70, 75, 112, 

147, 180 
Singleton, Mr., 91 
Small, Capt., 132 
Smith, Geo., 16 
Smithtown, 2, 161 
Spencer, Thomas, 21, 75, 103, 106, 

210, 211, 212, 222, 223 
Stanley, Mildred, 203, 205, 206, 

208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 215, 226 
Stanley, Robert, 198, 199, 200, 

203, 204, 209, 210, 211, 213 
Stanley, Rudolph, 203, 204, 206, 

207, 209, 212, 217, 224 
Stanley, Therese, 203, 204, 209, 

210, 212, 215, 217, 224 
Stanwix, Gen. John, 82 
Stevens, Arrent, 177 
Stevenson, Capt. James, 159 



240 



Index 



Stewart, Daisy, 226 

St. Franfois Xavier du Savdt, 29 

St. Leger, Lieut. -Col. Barry, 79, 

8 , 84, 87, 92, 93, 98, 100-105, 

145, 211, 212, 214, 221 
Stockwell, Lieut., 93 
Stone Arabia, 108, iii, 113, 114, 

122, 130, 153 
Stone, "U . L., 8, 9, 62, 69, 71, 77, 

106, 109, 114, 147 
Stringer, Samuel. 159 
Stuart, Rev. John, 77 
Sullivan, Gen. John, 106, 107, 108, 

no. Ill, 122, 13S 
Summer Rambles, 1S2 
Susquehanna River, 105, 109, 126 
Susquehannocks, 45 
Sutton, Samuel, 159, 160 
Swartwout, Captain, 88 



Tanner Famih-, 124 
Teg-che-un-to, 11, 15, 20, 21, 75, 

150, 151, 155, 204, 206, 210, 

211, 212, 222 

(Wilham of Canajoharie) 
Thompson, Captain, 121 
Tice, Gilbert, 66. 90, 153, 159, 160 
Ticonderoga, Fort. 31, 37, 38, 127 
Tiononderoga, 198 
Tracev. Gen. de. 28 
Tribes Hill, 186. 1S9 
Tryon Coxrnty, 61, 63, 64, 73, 81, 

83. 123, 137, 144, 146, 160, 172, 

209 
Tupper Lake. Big 67 
Tumboul. Lieut. Alexander, 24, 

26 
Tuscaroras, 14, 105, 106 

U 

Unadilla. 73, 74. 75. i" 

V 

Vagaries of men's minds, 54 
Van Rensselaer, Gen. Robert, in, 
113, 114, 115, 116, 118, 119, 122 



Van Schaick, John, Jr., 16 
Vaudreuil. M. de, 35 
Vedder, Albert, 16 
Veeder, John, 62 

W 

Wagner, Joseph, 75, 76 

Wall pieces, 25, 26 

Walrod, Hendrick, 120 

Warren, Anna, 5 

Warren, Lady, 7 

Warren, Sir Peter, 2, 5, 6, 9, 161 

Warrentown, 2 

Washington, Gen. George, 160, 

139 
Watt. Robert, 167 
Watts, John, 167 
Watts, Hon. John, Jr., 169 
Watts, Miss Mary (Polly), 16, 60, 

145 
Webb, Gen, 37, 82 
Weisenburg, Catherine, 10, 19, 

149, 161 
Welch, Lieut., 88 
Wemp, Jan, 198 
Weston, Col., 89, 100 
West Point, 128 
WTieelock, Dr., 21, 211 
"UTiite Mingo, 47 
Whiting. Lieut. -Col., ^^ 
"UTiitmore, Seth, 231 
Willett, Edward, 127 
Willett, Col. Marinus, 81, 87, 89, 

91, 93, 96, loi, 123-129, 133, 

197, 213, 220, 233 
Wilham Henry, Fort, ^6, 37 
Williams. Col. Ephraim, ^^ 
Wilson & Abeel, 175 
Wood Creek, 31, 82, 98, 99, 107, 

200. 214, 217 
Woodworth, Capt. Solomon, 130 
Wyandots, 46, 47 
Wyoming, 105 



Y 



Young, Almarin, 16 



THE MOHAWn 
VALLEY 

Its l^e^ends and its History 

By W. Max Reid. With Seventy Full-page Il- 
lustrations from Photographs by J. Arthur 
Maney. 8°. (By mail, $3.80.) . . Net $3.50 

There is no section of pleasant valley-landi, of lake- 
and forest-dotted wilderness, of rushing streams and cul- 
tivated fields, east of the Mississippi, that surpasses in 
its wealth of scenery that bit of the Empire State known 
as the Mohawk Valley. It is natural that such a land 
should be rich in romance, both legendary and historical. 
From Schenectady to Rome, every town has its romantic 
story of the French Wars or the Revolution, every bit of 
woodland has its wealth of pre-historic legend. 

Many characters of national interest figure prom- 
inently in this record of the Mohawk Valley, while war- 
like Indians, black-robed Jesuits, French officers, and 
early English settlers — the picturesque population of 
the Valley a century ago — live again in its pages. Pho- 
tographs and sketches of persons, places, and events 
profusely illustrate the volume and aid the imagination 
of the reader who knows and loves the Valley of to- 
day. 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

Ne'w YorK I^ondon 



The Hudson KiY^r from 
Ocean to Source : : : • : 

Historical Legendary Picturesque 
By Edgar Mayhew Bacon 

Author of '* Chronicles of Tarrytown," etc. 

Large <P°, with over loo illustrations. 
Net, S-ZJO. By express, prepaid, $4.75. 

NO stream in America is so rich in legends and 
historic associations as the Hudson. From 
ocean to source every mile of it is crowded 
with reminders of the early explorers, of the Indian wars, 
of the struggle of the colonies, and of the quaint, peace- 
ful village existence along its banks in the early days of 
the Republic. Before the explorers came, the river 
figured to a great extent in the legendary history- of the 
Indian tribes of the East. Mr. Bacon is well equipped 
for the undertaking of a book of this sort, and the story 
he tells is of national interest. 

The volume is illustrated with views taken especially 
for this work and with many rare old prints now first 
published in book form. 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

New York London 



The Connecticut River 

and the Valley of the Connecticut : : 

Three Hundred and Fifty Miles 
from Mountain to Sea : 

By Edwin Munroe Bacon 

Author of " Historical Pilgrimages in New England " 
" Literary Pilgrimages in New England," etc. 

8°. Fully Illustrated. Net, $3.50 
By express, prepaid, $3.73 



THE Connecticut River may perhaps with more 
propriety than any other in the world be 
named the Beautiful River. From Stuart 
to the Sound it uniformly maintains this character. 
The purity, salubrity, and sweetness of its waters; 
the frequency and elegance of its meanders; its ab- 
solute freedom from all aquatic vegetables; the un- 
common and universal beauty of its banks, here a 
smooth and winding beach, there covered with rich 
verdure, now fringed with bushes, now covered with 
lofty trees, and now formed by the intruding hill, the 
rude bluff, and the shaggy mountain, — are objects 
which no traveller can thoroughly describe, and no 
reader can adequately imagine. 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

New York London 



Old Paths and Legends 
of New England : : : : 

With many Ilhistrations of Massachu- 
setts Bay, Old Colony, Rhode Island, 
and the Providence Plantations, and tlte 
Fresh River of the Connecticut Valley 

By Katherine M. Abbott 

<P°, very fully illustrated, net, $3.50. (By mail, $3.75.) 

'* The author is at home on every inch of New England ground. 
The spirit of every scene is caught by some bit of vivid remem- 
brance, some anecdote that imparts a living interest. Beautifully 
made and lavishly illustrated." — Pittsburg Gatette. 



" Lends through the power of happy description a new charm to 
scenes long familiar. . . . Animated and entertaining." — Tfu 
Nation. 

"Illustrations, illuminations, quotations, headings, and indexes, 
there is absolutely nothing to be asked for that is not here." — 
Unity. 

Send hr UJuatrated detcripttre circular 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

New York London 




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